A financial adviser, whose clients included Mr Liam Lawlor and Mr Larry Goodman, has apologised to the tribunal for failing to tell it about £302,000 he made in a land deal.
Mr Luke Mooney said he "forgot" to tell the tribunal about the money he got from builder Mr Joe Tiernan for his work on the purchase of 55 acres of land at Coolamber in west Dublin.
Mr Mooney, a chartered accountant and director of Corporate Finance Ireland, made a £600,000 claim against Mr Tiernan in 1996-97, representing 10 per cent of the profit on the deal, the tribunal heard yesterday. He settled for half of this.
The "Tiernan saga" had been very difficult, Mr Mooney said. He felt he had been poorly treated by Mr Tiernan and had lost the friendship of Mr Robin Rennicks. Mr Tiernan had persuaded Mr Rennicks to put up a deposit of £110,000 to buy the lands in 1987.
Although Mr Rennicks and Mr Goodman were the only people to invest money in the deal at the start, Mr Goodman lost money and Mr Rennicks was repaid his initial investment and no more. Mr Tiernan built 500 houses on the lands after they were rezoned. Mr Tiernan admitted that his failure to include details of the payment in his original statement to the tribunal was a "glaring omission".
Mr Des O'Neill SC, for the tribunal, listed seven separate pieces of information Mr Tiernan had failed to provide. These included: the involvement of Mr Goodman in financing the purchase; a claim made by Mr Rennicks against Mr Tiernan and Corporate Finance; and the fact that Mr Tiernan was involved in negotiations with Mr Jim Kennedy to buy the lands.
In reply Mr Mooney said some of these matters were "oversights" on his part, and others he knew nothing about or couldn't recall. At the request of the tribunal, Mr Mooney provided further information last year. However, Mr O'Neill said the witness had still failed to pass on certain documents which he had.
He described the response of the witness as "incomplete, minimalist and a response only to matters drawn to your attention by the tribunal". Mr Mooney was taking an "entirely casual attitude" to the production of documents.
Mr Mooney said he didn't knowingly swear a false oath over the discovery of the documents. He had produced the documents he had. There was "virtually no file" on the deal.
It greatly disturbed him that he was the subject of a tribunal investigation. There was "nothing sinister" about what he had done. Counsel was "over-dramatising" things.
Judge Alan Mahon said no one was saying there was anything sinister involved. The tribunal's job was to gather all the facts.
Mr Mooney said Mr Rennicks knew at all times that the money he invested was "racecourse money" which wouldn't "break him" if he lost.
Earlier Mr Brian Delahunt, a solicitor who handled the conveyancing of the Coolamber transaction, was described as "a puppet".
Judge Gerald Keys said it was clear Mr Delahunt knew nothing about the client involved and was told nothing. The file he held was "a mystery" and he didn't even know the names of his clients. He did everything he was told by his principal partner, Mr John Caldwell. "That was my job," Mr Delahunt responded.
Judge Keys suggested Mr Delahunt's job was "something more than that". In spite of this, the witness "just took orders from above".
Mr Delahunt agreed.
