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Background to the Charge on DUBLIN CORPORATION property…
Audio Segment 1
Less than TWO months after Mr Alan Costello
(ex-detective and used-car dealer) had signed a guarantee for his daughter's
Lease
on the ground-floor shop at 372 Clontarf Road , Dublin 3 , on the 19th of May
1993 ; this Charge was created by G SAUNDERS
& COMPANY LIMITED - the DUBLIN CORPORATION'S favoured
property development company.
Company number 034654 , Document Sequence number 022 ; a company in which Mr
Alan Costello was both director and share-
holder , and relates to DUBLIN CORPORATION properties in both Coolock
and North Strand in Dublin ; SPECIFICALLY , the
property charged being :
" ALL THAT AND THOSE that part of the Estate of the Corporation
being the plot of ground situate at Coolock
Industrial Estate in the County of Dublin as more particularily delineated on
the map attached to Lease dated the
15th December 1989 and made between DUBLIN CORPORATION and
G. SAUNDERS and COMPANY LIMITED
"
AND
" ALL THAT AND THOSE that part of the Estate of the Corporation
being the two story warehouse and office
building known or formerly known as 46 - 49 inclusive North Clarence Street and
19 - 28 inclusive Dunne Street
in the City of Dublin and more particularily delineated on a map attached to a
Lease dated 15th December 1990
and made between DUBLIN CORPORATION and
G SAUNDERS and COMPANY LIMITED
"
Mr Costello's wife , Kay Costello , was also a director of this
company. Mr Donal Costello was also a director and
shareholder
in this company.
Mr Joseph Burke of :
132 Pinebrook Road , Artane ,
Dublin 5 ,
who was also a shareholder in this company was appointed a director on the same
date in 1982 as Mr Donal Costello.
Mr George Graham was appointed the company secretary on the 21st of June 1982 ,
replacing Mr Alan Costello who resigned on
the same date(in addition the company's registered offices was changed to 143
Edenmore Crescent Dublin 5 ; George Graham's
address on the seventh of July 1982 ).
GUINNESS & MAHON BANK LIMITED (Company number 034654 ) was at the CENTER
of the investigations of the
MORIARTY TRIBUNAL of enquiry set-up by Mr B Ahern's government on the 26th of
September 1997 ; to enquire into the
details and also the source of the payments made to Mr Charles Haughey
through the ANBACHER ( and off-shore
ANBACHER CAYMAN BANKS ) and whether any benefactors were granted political
favours by Haughey in return.
A quite SEPARATE INVESTIGATION was set-up by Mr B Ahern and his vice-Prime
Minister , Ms Mary Harney , into the
ANSBACHER DEPOSITS.
Oddly enough , the investigator in this instance was not a senior judge,
as in the case of the MORIARTY and FLOOD Tribunals ,
nor even an independent reputable or foreign accountant ; but a junior civil
servant in Ms Mary Harney's Department of Enterprise ,
Trade and Employment - one Mr Gerry Ryan...
This so-called investigation was distinguished from the others insofar as it (
and its findings , if any ) were kept under firm
POLITICAL CONTROL( some would say LOCK and KEY. ..).
According to a report by Liz Walsh , in the August 1998 edition of MAGILL
magazine , Mr Ryan reported directly to Ms
Mary Harney , and inquired into :
Number 1
Coded records kept by Padraig Collery of GUINNESS & MAHON of secret
ANSBACHER deposits
made by Irish residents over a 20 year period to a CAYMAN BANK ;
ANSBACHER CAYMAN
LIMITED...
Money redeposited into general accounts in Dublin's GUINNESS & MAHON
BANK and later into IRISH
INTERCONTINENTAL BANK...
Number 2
Loans from GUINNESS & MAHON to Tony O'Reilly...
Mr O'Reilly said he was only a depositor in a 12 month account held with
GUINNESS & MAHON in 1972
and said HE never made contributions to either LOWRY or HAUGHEY...
With ith regard to the ANSBACHER DEPOSITS investigation the article noted that
ANSBACHER refused to co-operate with
Ms Harney's enquiry , and obtained a court-order in the CAYMAN ISLANDS -
which effectively guaranteed LEGAL
PROTECTION to its obstruction of , what was ,essentially , Ms
Mary Harney's departmental investigation !
It is open to question whether the court in the CAYMAN ISLANDS tax-haven would
have been so accommodating with regard
to granting court protection to ANSBACHER BANK , if the request for
information regarding the ANSBACHER DEPOSITS ,
had come from a fully-fledged Tribunal of Enquiry chaired by a panel of senior
judges backed-up by a government with a...
GENUINE politicial WILL to uncover the VERY SERIOUS
CRIMINALITY behind the ANSBACHER DEPOSITS - instead
of from a minor official ,in a minor department , headed by a minor
politician albeit one with MAJOR POLITICIAL ambitions...
Two other inquiries relating to the ANSBACHER DEPOSITS were established by Ms
Mary Harney and the same inspector
Mr Gerry Ryan was appointed in each case :
One , established in September 1997 was concerned with CELTIC
HELICOPTERS,
whose major shareholder is Mr Charles Haughey's son , Ciaran Haughey - the
debts of whom to IRISH INTERCONINENTAL
BANK , were secured from ANSBACHER CAYMAN funds held for Charles
Haughey.
The second inquiry , established by Ms Harney in June of 1998 , was
concerned with KENTFORD SECURITIES - a company set-up
indirectly by Mr Sam Field Corbett , business associate of Mr Charles Haughey
in 1979 , and run by Des Traynor (Mr Haughey's
accountant) to open accounts , into which, the so-called politicial
"donations" to Haughey were deposited(before they were moved
on to Mr Haughey's ANSBACHER accounts...).
After the monies were moved on , the accounts in the name of KENTFORD
SECURITIES were closed by Traynor to cover-up the
transactions.
Two former GUINNESS & MAHON directors Mr Maurice O'Kelly and Daniel
O'Connor were directors of KENTFORD
SECURITIES for a brief period.
On June 5th 1997 , The Department of Finance , acting on the advice of the
Director of Public Prosecutions gave the Garda
Commissioner a file of documents - arising from the McCracken Tribunal - and
sought his advice on a ...
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
into breaches of the law governing exchange controls On June 7th 1997 an
investigation was launched into the con duct of the
CENTRAL BANK...
The CENTRAL BANK refused to comment...
From Ms Walsh's report :
" ...compelling EVIDENCE EXISTS that some institutions , most notably GUINNESS
& MAHON BANK
exceeded CENTRAL BANK guidelines that no deposit or GROUP OF DEPOSITS should
account for
MORE THAN 5% of a BANKS DEPOSITS...
The Central Bank has a range of sanctions at its disposal including the REMOVAL
OF A BANKERS LICENSE !
Despite this ACTION has YET to be taken by the CENTRAL
BANK...
"
In his biography of Charles Haughey , HAUGHEY : His Life and Unlucky Deeds
, published in 1993 , pages 142 & 143 ,
Bruce Arnold relates how Mr Haughey was endeavouring to deal with his overdraft
with ALLIED IRISH BANK in 1980 :
"...Most intriguingly he spoke of the possibility of a £10 million
deposit through a Middle Eastern Bank into the AIB
at a LOWER INTEREST RATE than normal AIB documents name the RAFIDAIN BANK
- a state-controlled
Iraqi Bank..
The suggestion - which AIB didn't fancy at all - seems to have been
that RAFIDAIN would do AIB a favour -as
long as AIB kept funding Haughey...
That Haughey appeared to have , as early as the 1970's , a connection with a
bank controlled by Saddam Hussein
was disturbing...
AIB , finally , dared at a meeting with Haughey on 1st October 1976 to get
uppity , and to demand he return his
chequebooks !
According to an AIB memo at this point Mr Haughey became quite
vicious. He said that he would not give up
his chequebooks , as , he had to live.
You're dealing with an adult raged Haughey , and no BANKER will talk
to me in this manner ! If the BANK took
drastic action , he said he could be a very troublesome adversary.
This tantrum was enough to make the BANKERS back off and continue
allowing Haughey to withdraw MONEY
- THAT WASN'T his...
By the middle of January 1980 , with Haughey now Taoiseach , he
authorised his crooked accountant Des Traynor
to finalise a settlement...
It is clear from AIB documents that Traynor could take no action , nor enter
any discussion on these matters
these matters without Haughey's explicit direction The debt was now £1.143
million AIB agreed to take
£750,000 in settlement.
The £390,000 could be written-off as a bad
debt - and claimed against tax liabilities.
As ever the taxpayer would pick up the tab...
The £750,000 to settle the debt was
channelled through GUINNESS & MAHON the PRIVATE BANK
of
which Haughey's crooked accountant friend Des Traynor was de
facto Chief Executive , and in which Haughey
now opened an account.
The land deal with Patrick Gallagher was put into effect.
Haughey got £300,000 supposedly as a down payment for land at
Kinsealy. The money was passed over but
the land deal was never carried through...
Haughey kept the down payment and kept the land !
Gallagher was only too pleased to be of service to his hero...
It was within GUINNESS & MAHON that Traynor organised
the ANSBACHER DEPOSITS wherein
Haughey's STERLING and Deutschmark accounts were coded S8 and S9 , and
with Haughey now Taoiseach ,
in complete con trol of FIANNA FAIL , a Taoiseach promising hard-nosed national
housekeeping policies ;
which pleased his business admirers - he was widely praised by the wealthy...
Between 1979 and 1987 no less than £1.5 million
poured into his personal accounts at GUINNESS & MAHON
During that period Haughey eased out FIANNA FAIL'S Des Hanafin , whom he
couldn't control , and got his
own hands on the party's fund-raising mechanism...
No one had the guts to ask Haughey where the money
went...
"
GUINNESS & MAHON BANK LIMITED still held its DEBENTURE over
all the assets of G. SAUNDERS & COMPANY
LIMITED at the date of the creation of this Charge( 15th. July 1993 ).
Margaret Murphy's , structurally-sound , single-storey cottage at :
373 Clontarf Road , Dublin 3 ,
which had an outside w.c. suitable ______________________________________________[ END of Audio Segment 1 ]
Audio Segment 2
only for a small household , was demolished
in April 1982 , by the Dublin Corporation without
any consultation , or warning given to the
adjoining property owners !
Major damage was done to the party gable wall between 372
and 373 Clontarf Road by the DUBLIN CORPORATION - in their
eagerness to demolish 373 Clontarf Road ( both the cottage to the front
of 373 , but more particularly its outside w.c. and
associated rudimentary DRAINAGE SYSTEM ).
The totally unnecessary , and questionable
destruction of Margaret Murphy's home at 373 Clontarf Road by the Dublin
Corporation
in 1982 , left a damaged and structurally-weakened party
gable wall , on the North-Eastern side of 372 Clontarf Road , exposed to
the elements - and potential criminal trespass by vandals other
than DUBLIN CORPORATION.
The owner of 372 Clontarf Road , Mr. William Maguire , was left with a severely
damaged and structurally-undermined premises ,
opened to ingress by rain and sleet with bricks and rubble strewn everywhere ,
in short , a complete mess ; which is one field of
dubious expertise in which the Dublin Corporation , and its guiding forces :
politicians like Mr Charles J Haughey , Mr Padraig Flynn ,
and...
Mr Raphael Burke...
are the undisputed leaders - perhaps the ONLY field...
As a con sequence of this mess created by Dublin Corporation , and being
unable to obtain any legal redress for the damage caused
to his premises at 372 , Mr William Maguire was forced to pay for the essential
materials and repairs to his premises out of his own
limited resources !
The effects of all these arrogant and imperious actions of questionable
legality by the Dublin Corporation amounting to quite
deliberate harassment ( for reasons , as became apparent years later on the
10th of September 1992 , which were clearly CRIMINAL
in design , execution , and effect ), were not only felt in the financial
sense , but also , and MORE IMPORTANTLY ; in terms of stress
and aggravation leading to a marked deterioration in Mr Maguire's health -
ultimately leading to several heart attacks.
The net result for Mr Maguire as a result of Dublin Corporations actions
under the Minister for the Environment Mr Raphael Burke
sanctioned by Mr Charles Haughey's government was therefore a very marked
deterioration in the quality of life ; not only for Mr
William Maguire himself , but also for his family; and with no possibility
whatsoever of calling the Dublin Corporation vandals or
their political masters to account in any court of law in Mr Charles
Haughey's State .
Since , Mr Charles Haughey ( being an honoured - not to mention esteemed
- past legal graduate of the KINGS INNS training
centre in Dublin ) had ensured that , any legislation which he and his Justice Minister
Mr Ray Burke had overseen through its passage
into law favoured them (and their accomplices...) alone , in any
legal dispute !
Mr Charles Haughey was Prime Minister from the 9th of March untill 14th
of December 1982 and Mr Ray Burke was his Minister
for the Environment when Dublin
Corporation entered
and
demolished
373 Clontarf Road
in this period !
The term G U B U...
GOO-BOO , or GROTESQUE UNBELIEVABLE BIZZARE
UNPRECEDENTED was later coined by the celebrated writer
and broadcaster Dr Conor Cruise O'Brien to describe the corruption and
scandal-ridden months , characteristic of Mr Haughey's
tenure as Prime Minister in 1982..
Interestingly enough , the Certificate of Incorporation of G SAUNDERS &
COMPANY LTD was issued by the Registrar of
Companies in Dublin on the 18th of June 1982 even though
the company itself was incorporated on the 30th of June 1971.
On the 29th July 1988 Joseph Burke resigned as Director and
Secretary of the company to be replaced by J. N. K. ADVISORY
SERVICES LIMITED of :
101 Furry Park Road ,
Dublin 5 ,
as Company secretary - the address in Raheny. Dublin quite close to Mr Charles
Haughey's former home..." Cill Eanna "...
On the same date , Mr. Alan Costello was appointed a director !
On 3rd. November 1988 Donal Costello resigned to be replaced by Mr Joseph
Kenny of the same address in Raheny as J.N.K.
ADVISORY SERVICES LIMITED.
On the 10th. August 1989 a Special Resolution was passed giving the directors borrowing powers without any limit ...
In Mr Ryle T Dwyer's biography of Mr Charles Haughey , SHORT FELLOW ,
published in 1999 , page 315 ,Mr Dwyer
writes :
"...On the 20th of January 1987 when Garrett Fitzgerald resigned and
called a general election Haughey owed
GUINNESS & MAHON £280,000 .
As the GENERAL-ELECTION campaign got under way six cheques from Dunnes Stores
totalling £32,000 were
lodged at GUINNESS & MAHON for HAUGHEY's benefit...
"
Mr Cathal O'Neill , solicitor , countersigned the G. SAUNDERS &
COMPANY LIMITED Charge on the 15th of July 1993
on behalf of Eugene F Collins , solicitors , acting for SMURFIT
FINANCE LIMITED.
EUGENE F. COLLINS , solicitors , of :
" TEMPLE CHAMBERS
" ,
3 Burlington Road Dublin 4 ,
{ Eugene F Collins , solicitors , also acted for the DUBLIN
CORPORATION rates department in December 1998 and April 1999
when the RATes department sued the owner of 372 Clontarf Road over arrears of
rates due to the Dublin Corporation since
the departure of Mr Alan Costello's daughter , in November 1995 !
Ms N. Costello received a rates credit from the DUBLIN CORPORATION
from May of 1993 when she took-over the
Lease of 372 , after Mr Lonan Hickey left suddenly - still owing
several weeks rent !
Mr Hickey later claimed that his accountant backers had suddenly
withdrawn support from his business.
}
This Charge corresponds to the other Charge of the same date ,
that is , the 15th of July 1993 , created by COURTHAMPTON
WAREHOUSING LIMITED ( Company number : 128837 , Document
Sequence number : 009 ) , for a secured amount of
£250,000 sterling ...
The security being :
" ALL MOTOR CARS TRACTORS LORRIES and OTHER VEHICULAR
MACHINERY OF THE
MORTGAGOR. In addition , and also by way of floating charge ALL ITS
ASSETS WHATSOEVER AND
WHERESOEVER BOTH PRESENT AND FUTURE...
"
Mr Cathal O'Neill solicitor also countersigned the COURTHAMPTON
WAREHOUSING LIMITED Charge on the 15th of
July 1993 on behalf of Eugene F Collins , solicitors , again
acting for SMURFIT FINANCE LIMITED.
The same Mr Cathal O'Neill , solicitor , also acted for Mr Alan Costello
when he covertly tendered for 372 Clontarf Road , in
August 1999 using HAMILTON OSBORNE KING , the estate agents , as a
front to conceal the fact that he Alan Costello
had made two tenders for 372 one in his own name and one using , Mr
Adam Clarke ( the manager of HAMILTON OSBORNE
KING's VERNON AVENUE branch ) who stated in ' his' letter of tender that
, he (Adam Clarke) was acting in trust for a buyer
or buyers who do not want their identity known to the owner of 372 or...
the general public...
Funnily enough , both Mr Alan Costello's and Mr Adam Clarke's letters of tender were both dated the 18th of August 1999.
Both of these charges ; the Charge created by G SAUNDERS &
COMPANY LIMITED and the Charge created by
COURTHAMPTON WAREHOUSING LIMITED were due to SMURFIT FINANCE LIMITED of
:
94 Saint Stephens Green ,
Dublin 2 ,
The Company Secretary of SMURFIT FINANCE LIMITED , Mr. Gerard Delaney , of :
14 TEMPLE Park ,
Dartry ,
Dublin 6 ,
resigned from the company on the 23rd. of July 1998(Company number : 065808 , Document Sequence number : 2066120 ).
In the Annual Return of SMURFIT FINANCE LIMITED for the
Financial Year ending the 31st of December 1989 , made-up
to the 26th day of December , 1991( Document Sequence number : 572842 ) ; the
said Annual Return was still NOT registered in
the Companies Registration Office in Dublin up to the 5th of August 1998 ; the directors
included :
Leo James Martin , of :
70 Saint Lawrence's Road
,
Dublin 3 ,
Mr Martin was appointed a director of SMURFIT FINANCE LIMITED
along with HOWARD EDWARD KILROY ,
the former GOVERNOR of THE BANK OF IRELAND on the 12th of January
1979.
The company name then was STRONGBOW TRUST LIMITED and the name
was later changed to SMURFIT FINANCE
LIMITED on the 24th of January 1984...
Mr Martin was a director of A. H. MASSER LIMITED , of :
Kylemore Road ,
Dublin 12 ,
which had recently been allotted 10 D SHARES in the company.
Mr Howard Kilroy was then a director of the BANK OF IRELAND LIMITED , whose subsidiary, I.B.I. LIMITED of :
Pembroke Road ,
Ballsbridge ,
Dublin 4 ,
had recently been allotted 10 C SHARES in the company.
The remaining allottments , numbering 998 A SHARES and 1000
B SHARES were allotted to SMURFIT INVESTMENTS
(IRELAND) LIMITED of :
Ballymount Road ,
Walkinstown ,
Dublin 12
Another director of SMURFIT FINANCE LIMITED is Mr Raymond Michael Curran , of :
17 Ard na Mara Crescent
,
Malahide ,
County Dublin ,
Mr Curran's other directorships include the JEFFERSON SMURFIT GROUP PLC
in which he has a VERY SUBSTANTIAL
SHAREHOLDING including large SHARE OPTIONS , and where he held a
very senior position as Director of Finance for the
whole GROUP - until he was sent overseas , to take on the Finance
position in the new SMURFIT STONE corporation in the
U. S. A.
He resigned that position shortly after the ENRON scandal broke in the
U.S.A and new accounting standards (to prevent large-scale
Corporate Fraud and Malpractice ) were
_______________________________________________[ END of Audio Segment 2 ]
Audio Segment 3
being introduced...
A Ms Maeve Curran , a friend of Mr Alan Costello's daughter , moved into the
shop at 371 Clontarf Road formerly known as
DOLLYMOUNT APPLIANCES , early in 1997 , right next door to
372 Clontarf Road.
She complained to the legitimate owner of 372 Clontarf Road , Mr William
Maguire's son , that the NO TRESPASSING notice
which he had erected to dissuade Mr Alan Costello - or his employee's -
from trespassing onto his land at 372 was discouraging
people from entering her...shop at 371...
A third director of SMURFIT FINANCE LIMITED , listed in the Annual
Return for the Financial Year ending the 31st of December
1989 was Michael John Hickey of :
5 Seaview Park ,
Shankhill ,
County Dublin ,
All of the directors of SMURFIT FINANCE LIMITED previously mentioned ,
listed as their business occupation...
CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT...
A Mr Lonan Hickey of :
11 Church Avenue ,
Drum con dra ,
Dublin 9 ,
signed a Lease on the shop at 372 Clontarf Road on the 10th of September 1992
On the same day ( Simultaneously ..?) , a VESTING
ORDER made under the DERELICT SITES ACT
, number 14
of 1990 enacted on the 27th of June 1990 was placed on
373 Clontarf Road , the former home of Ms Margaret Murphy
,whose
will has NEVER been brought to probate !
The DERELICT SITES ACT was created by Mr Charles Haughey's FIANNA
FAIL and PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRAT
coalition government...
Mr Ray Burke was Mr Haughey's ' Minister for Justice ' at the
time...
Mr Padraig Flynn was Mr Haughey's Minister for the Environment
and...
Ms Mary Harney was a junior Minister in the same Mr Flynn's department...
Mr Bartholomew Ahern was later to be appointed Mr
Haughey's Minister for Finance in 1991 ...,
.........................................he was also made Chairman
of the European Investment Bank in 1991 ...
.........................................and was awarded the Grand
Cross Order of Merit with Star and Sash (Germany) in 1991...
Mr Lonan Hickey is 7 doors down from Mr B Ahern...
Funnily enough , Mr Charles Haughey was made Prime Minister of Eire
by 7 votes on the 9th of March 1982...
According to an article in the PHOENIX magazine issue of the 18th of
June in 1999 , page 6...,
after the 1997 General election , a Mr Gerry Hickey became Mr B
Ahern's :
" ...main man in the government machine and has for long been the chief handler..."
most " crisis management " is now handled from Mr B Ahern's , Department of the Taoiseach ,
"... Hickey taking charge of such problems..........................................................."
Mr B Ahern would con sult , ".. several times daily with Hickey ..." , who is ,
" ... probably the most powerful man in the country outside the Taoiseach... "
Mr B Ahern's government set-up Mr Justice Feargus Flood on the 4th
of November 1997 to con duct the investigation into
corruption in LAND REZONING and PLANNING ISSUES in
particular the circumstances surrounding the £30,000
payment
to former FIANNA FAIL Minister Ray Burke in June 1989 by James Gogarty
on behalf of the building firm JOSEPH MURPHY
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS ; (J. M. S. E.)...
Also Justice Feargus Flood was to determine if any acts
associated with the PLANNING PROCESS committed after
June 1985 amounts to corruption...
After the revelation in MAGILL magazine in June of 1998 , that RENNICKS
MANUFACTURING LIMITED , a subsidiary of
Sir Anthony J F O'Reilly's , holding company , FITZWILTON PLC (
formerly known as W & H M GOULDING LIMITED )
had made a £30,000 cheque made out
to cash 'donation' to Burke during the 1989 election
campaign the FLOOD TRIBUNAL
had it's Terms of Reference extended on the1st of July
1998 to include the FITZWILTON PLC payment to Mr
Ray Burke...
The extended powers of the FLOOD TRIBUNAL also allowed it to investigate
allegations of corruption dating back to
January 1973( not 1972 ...)
The extension of the terms of reference , in combination with the legal action
taken by those under investigation , had the effect of
DELAYING the preliminary investigation stage of the FLOOD
TRIBUNAL...
In the book , HAUGHEY : His Life and Unlucky Deeds , by journalist and
Author Bruce Arnold , pages 265 to 268 inclusive,
published in the year 1993 - the year after Mr Haughey's FORCED
resignation over the phone-bugging of Mr Arnold and fellow
journalist Ms Geraldine Kennedy..., Mr Arnold writes :
" Michael Smurfit , one of Ireland's most successfull
businessmen , was Chairman of Telecom , a Statutory company
set-up in1984 , and responsible for telecommunication services throughout
the country. The company had been
involved in a complicated property deal involving the premises in Ballsbridge
formerly occupied by the Dublin bakery
, Johnston Mooney and O'Brien and the price for the site was £9.4
million. It emerged that dealings for the
property had escalated the price well beyond what TELECOM SHOULD HAVE PAID
and that a company
in which SMURFIT had a beneficial interest was PROFITABLY
involved in a sequence of sales and transfers...
Desmond was the con nection with
Haughey. He had been responsible for
setting-up the property company
UNITED PROPERTY HOLDINGS , which had originally bought the site.
SMURFIT had a 10% interest in this property company .
UPH sold it on and companies outside Ireland were involved in the
eventual transfer of the Ballsbridge site to
Telecom.
Representatives for SMURFIT had ORIGINALLY DENIED that he
had any financial interest in the site and
had used the denial TO EXTRACT APOLOGIES from the IRISH
INDEPENDENT in FEBUARY 1990 .
When it emerged that the chairman of the statutory company was involved in a
sale which had seen the
property rise in value from approximately £5
to £9 million mainly on the basis of
an assured sale to the state
in which SMURFIT as Chairman had played a part , the
government was faced with another crisis.
Haughey sought advice from two Ministers Bertie Ahern and Seamus
Brennan...
He went on radio and suggested that Smurfit should step aside from his
Chairmanship.
SMURFIT resigned two days later.
On the 3rd of October Dermot Desmond resigned as Chairman
of Aer Rianta , the company that owns and runs
the country's airports , and also stepped aside as head of his own stockbroking
firm. An interim report
produced
for the Minister for Transport and Tourism , Seamus Brennan found that there
had been direct dealings over the
property in which Dermot Desmond and Michael Smurfit were involved
and that proper procedures on
valuation and cost comparisons had not been followed .
Haughey also insulted the intelligence of the FIANNA FAIL Party.
At this stage the party's collective intelligence was increasingly open to
question
"
Writing about the same scandal involving SMURFIT and HAUGHEY in his biography
of Mr Charles Haughey SHORT FELLOW,
published in the year 1999 , pages 399 and 400 , Mr Ryle T Dwyer writes
:
" SMURFIT had a 10% share in U.P.H a property-development
company mainly owned by Dermot Desmond the
founder and Chief Executive of National City Brokers which had handled
the privatisation of GREENCORE
and had recently been retained to advise on the privatisation of Telecom
Eireann.
U.P.H. had purchased the controversial site for £4.4 million and then sold it shortly
afterwards for £6.4 million.
Dermot Desmond helped HODDLE INVESTMENTS acquire the building
which was then sold to TELECOM
for £9.4 million.
It had more than doubled in price when property values were
falling...
"
Writing about another scandal involving Haughey and SMURFIT , Mr Arnold states( page 267) :
" For more than a year questions had been asked about the sale of
the CARYSFORT TRAINING COLLEGE
and its land originally valued at £3.8
million , the property was subsequently sold to UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE
DUBLIN for £8 million by PINO
HARRIS a Dublin Truck importer with property
interests. He had bought
it for £6.25 million. The
money for the purchase with additional funds for the adaption of the buildings
for a
post-graduate business school(SS) ,meant that the state had to
provide £9.7 million.
There were MANY
IRREGULARITIES in how the purchase was investigated and agreed
with essential safeguards being ignored
and decisions made against formal or official advice.
The Department of Finance for example OPPOSED the provision of the £9.7 million but was handed-down a
Government decision on the deal , and Haughey himself , though he originally
denied any involvement whatever
in the purchase had been DIRECTLY INVOLVED in a number of MEETINGS
connected with the sale seeing
the President of the college, Paddy Masterson and other officials.
Opposition politicians whose views were essentially endorsed by UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE , claimed that the
college had been force-fed with the funds , in order to acquire a property
which was far from ideal for its
purposes. They also claimed that PINO
HARRIS , the private individual who made £1.75
million from the deal
was a close political friend of CHARLES HAUGHEY.
Haughey denied any particular knowledge of any of the VARIOUS FINANCIAL
TRANSACTIONS and
VALUATIONS. He told the Dail that his
participation was, in order to provide extra third-level places for
students...
There were particularly angry exchanges over the supposed close political
association between Haughey and Harris
HAUGHEY accusing the Labour Party leader Dick Spring of lying and of being a
professional slanderer...
"
Writing about the same scandal involving HAUGHEY and SMURFIT in his biography
of Mr Charles Haughey , SHORT FELLOW ,
published in 1999 , pages 402 and 403 , Mr Ryle T Dwyer writes :
" When controversy erupted over the the purchase of CARYSFORT
Haughey insisted that the place had been
bought at the instigation of the UCD authorities.
' U C D proposed to us that they acquire Carysfort ' ,
he asserted during a radio
______________________________________________[ END of Audio Segment 3 ]
Audio Segment 4 ................................................................ interview on the 22nd September.
' U C D carried out an examination of Carysfort through their own mechanism and
decided that the asking price
for it was great value ', he continued.
Was the U C D approach perhaps made at the prompting of the government ? , he
was asked...
' No ' , Haughey replied.
' Certainly not
'...
"
Mr Arnold declares on page 268 :
" The scandals were punctuating the life of the country with with
the dull regular thump of some underground
sewage pump FLUSHING OUT the EVIDENCE of an unplumbed and IMMEASURABLE CESSPOOL.
And still the DEFENSE went on the DETERMINATION to SURVIVE the ABSOLUTE REFUSAL
to be
SHAMED OUT of OFFICE..
The democratic wranglings went on in the
Dail. The CHARGES were laid one after
another Yet so long
as Haughey could hold his Party's allegiance, and maintain the coalition
deal , he was safe...
"
The controversial new BUSINESS SCHOOL , to which Bruce Arnold and Ryle T Dwyer
referred , was the MICHAEL SMURFIT
Graduate School of Business , the Chairman of which , Mr
Laurence Gunning Crowley who succeeded Howard Edward
Kilroy as GOVERNOR of the BANK OF IRELAND in 2001 also
happens to be a brother of Judge Timothy Halpin Crowley.
Mr LAURENCE CROWLEY is the Chairman of P. J. CARROLL HOLDINGS.
The ULTIMATE HOLDING COMPANY of P. J. Carroll Holdings PLC is :
Compagnie Financiere Richemont
A.G ,
Rigistrasse 2 ,
CH-6300 ,
ZUG ,
SWITZERLAND ,
and his other directorships include J ROTHSCHILD INTERNATIONAL ASSURANCE PLC
and HAMILTON
OSBORNE KING , the ESTATE AGENT'S ,whose VERNON AVENUE branch
manager , Mr Adam Clarke bought
372 Clontarf Road ' in trust '
, for Mr Alan Costello's company , ( and the DUBLIN
CORPORATIN'S FAVOURED
PROPERTY DEVELOPER ...) :
G. SAUNDERS & COMPANY LIMITED
on the 4th of May 2000...
Writing about the the £2 million Irish
punts tax-bill levied on the £8.5 million
, which Mr Charles Haughey had received , by
way of so-called " political " donations , Mr Ryle T Dwyer in his
biography of Mr Charles Haughey SHORT FELLOW ,
published in 1999 , pages 450 and 451 , states :
" Haughey was billed for £2 million
by the REVENUE COMMISSIONERS but he appealed the assessment.
The case was heard in camera in October 1998 before Ronan
O'Kelly , an appeals commissioner.
O'Kelly's task was to sit independently of the Revenue Commissioners in
order to evaluate the assessment and
decide whether it should stand , be reduced , or be dismissed.
The Revenue Commissioners insisted that the
McCracken Report identified Ben Dunne as the donor of £1.3 million to Haughey.
The money was paid by OFF-SHORE COMPANIES :
EQUIFEX TRUST CORPORATION registered in :
ZUG
,
SWITZERLAND ,
which forewarded £610,000 sterling to
Haughey and TURBURY , a company in the Isle of Man , which
provided £410,000 sterling.
A further £182,650 sterling
was provided by Dunnes Stores in Bangor ,
Northern Ireland. Haughey's legal
team contended that , in law , the actual donors
were the
OFFSHORE-COMPANIES from which Dunnes Stores had withdrawn the money
for the benefit of the
former Taoiseach. The shareholders
of the companies were thus the actual donors .
BUT as THESE PEOPLE were NOT IDENTIFIED , O'Kelly
had no real option , but , to con clude
that the money had come from outside the state and was therefore not
liable to income tax under existing
Laws.
When it was announced on the 15th of December 1998 this decision was greeted with a storm of protests.
The Revenue Commissioners indicated that they would be appealing the
finding to the CIRCUIT COURT
where the proceedings would be open to the
public. The Luton-based property developer
, Tom Gilmartin
was so irate about the decision that he announced that he couln't be
bothered testifying before the FLOOD
TRIBUNAL. He had reportedly
given £50,000 to Padraig Flynn
back in 1989...
"
The appeals commissioner who heard Mr Charles Haughey's appeal in camera
in October 1998 and decided in favour of
Mr Charles Haughey was the brother-in-law of
Mr B Ahern...
In Mr Ryle T Dwyer biography of Mr Charles Haughey , pages 455 and 456 :
" ...a whole plethora of issues about Haughey's financial affairs
were meanwhile being raised by the
Moriarty Tribunal , especially in relation to his handling of the party
leader's allowance , which was provided
by the state. This account was run
out of the AIB branch in Baggot Street , Dublin , but , Haughey had
other money also deposited in the account.
Between 1984 and 1991 over £540,000extra
was deposited in the account , in addition to the £945,000
con tributed by the state.
But there are questions about the use of the money.
For instance , £100,000 con
tributed to FIANNA FAIL by the IRISH PERMANENT BUILDING SOCIETY
was deposited in the leader account during 1986 , but in the same period
£75,000 was apparently transferred out
of the leader' s account to another account used to pay Haughey's
domestic bills.
One might reasonably wonder whether this was a legitimate use of that account
!?
The IRISH PERMANENT BUILDING SOCIETY made further contributions
of £10,000 to Haugey's
' personal political fund ' and £20,000
to help defray the cost of Brian Lenihan's liver transplant at the Mayo
clinic in the United States in June 1989 , but those two cheques were inadvertently
lodged in the account of
CELTIC HELICOPTERS.
Haughey insisted that his son , CIARAN , had withdrawn a similar
amount from the company's account on the
same day.
But lawyers for the Moriarty Tribunal contended that the £30,000 cheque was apparently cashed
at the bank
rather than being deposited in the leader's
account.
There was a lodgement for £36,000 on the 20th
of June 1989 but that included a £25,000
cheque from LARRY
GOODMAN , towards Lenihan's medical expenses.
WHAT HAPPENED to the £30,000
contributed by the IRISH PERMANENT BUILDING SOCIETY
in June 1989 is a matter which has yet to be resolved
.................................................................................
"
IRISH PERMANENT BUILDING SOCIETY took-over GUINNESS & MAHON BANK
on the 31st of August 1994
and so , is now the owner of the DEBENTURE dated the
5th. of Feburary 1990 , over all the assets
of Mr Alan Costello's
company (and the DUBLIN CORPORATION'S FAVOURED PROPERTY DEVELOPER ) ,
G SAUNDERS & COMPANY LIMITED
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE THE MORE THEY REMAIN THE SAME.
The JEFFERSON SMURFIT GROUP PLC put SMURFIT FINANCE & LEASING
the trade name of SMURFIT
FINANCE LTD up for sale in April 1999...
In an article by Barry O'Keefe in the Irish Times , dated the 15th of May 1999 , he writes :
" SMURFIT FINANCE is a leasing and hire purchase company which
provides lease and hire purchase
facilities to more than fifty motor dealerships and the con sumer
market It is expected to make pre-tax
profits of £3.3 million this year ,
compared to £3.13 million in 1998. At the end of December last the
company's total hire/purchase assets outstanding was £64.3 million.
This excluded SMURFIT GROUP
lease assets of £9.6 million. The
company provides car leasing facilities to SMURFIT GROUP companies
in Ireland The leasing company underwrote £1.3
million of new business for the SMURFIT
GROUP last year.
The group has given an undertaking that it will give SMURFIT
FINANCE'S buyer first refusal on its
Irish and British motor leasing requirements for an a
greed period of
time.
"
HAMILTON OSBORNE KING's Molesworth Street branch acted for the JEFFERSON
SMURFIT GROUP PLC in the
rather hasty disposal of SMURFIT FINANCE their lucrativecar-dealership-financing
arm to EQUITY BANK ,a subsidiary
of the BANK OF SCOTLAND in May 1999.
In a report in the IRISH INDEPENDENT on , Wednesday the 28th of June 2000 , page 11 , HEADLINED :
" HAUGHEY solicited a £60,000 donation from me says SMURFIT "
the author of the article went on to report on the previous day's proceedings
at the MORIARTY TRIBUNAL of Inquiry into
payments to Mr Charles Haughey... :
" Millionaire businessman Michael Smurfit spent less than
ten minutes in the witness box at the MORIARTY
TRIBUNAL yesterday to tell of a £60,000
donation to FIANNA FAIL on the eve of the 1989 General Election
Mr. Smurfit said the donation had been solicited by
the then Taoiseach , Charles Haughey who told him to
deal with financial advisor Des Traynor about the payment
details. Counsel for the tribunal , John
Coughlan
S.C , in his opening statement , to the inquiry had said the
funds were transferred to a HENRY ANSBACHER
account in London. The same account
through which very substantial sums of money appear to
have been
paid by Ben Dunne and Dermot Desmond for the benefit
of Charles Haughey.
The businessman said with the passage of time it was difficult to
recall what occured in regard to the donation
made by the ,
JOHN JEFFERSON SMURFIT MONEGASQUE FOUNDATION
to FIANNA FAIL in 1989.
Mr Smurfit said he had not yet had an opportunity to
inspect the files of the FOUNDATION , and would
make them available to the tribunal as soon as he had them...
He believed the donation was solicited by Charles Haughey
who requested him to deal with Des Traynor
with regard to the payment details.
A transfer of the sterling equivalent of 60,000
IRISH PUNTS was made on June 14th. 1989 from the
FOUNDATION to a sterling account at HENRY ANSBACHER
& COMPANY
LONDON........
"
STRANGE COINCIDENCES ....with even stranger bedfellows...
to say the least...
REFERENCES :
HAUGHEY : His Life and Unlucky Deeds ; by Bruce
Arnold , 1993 ; ISBN : 00
0255 2124
SHORT
FELLOW
; by Ryle T. Dwyer , 1999 ; ISBN : 18
6023 1004