Dublin auctioneer Mr John Finnegan may have assisted in changing the title of lands bought by builders Brennan and McGowan thereby paving the way for their development, the Flood Tribunal heard today.
Mr Patrick Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, had been questioning Mr Brennan on why Mr Finnegan had received over £200,000 in two separate land deals for apparently "doing nothing".
Mr Brennan said Mr Finnegan was a partner in a number of his companies and was therefore legally entitled to a share of the money made from certain deals.
However after repeated questions from Mr Hanratty, Mr Brennan did concede that Mr Finnegan may have helped in getting the "restrictive development" status removed from the lands in some of the cases.
Not for the first time, Mr Hanratty accused Mr Brennan of withholding information from the tribunal.
Earlier, counsel forMrFinnegan, Mr Dominic Hussey SC, told the Flood tribunal his client did not sign a document that appeared to have his signature on it.
The development occurred asMr Hanratty was questioning Mr Brennan about the proceeds of aland deal in 1979 involving a company called Victa Investments.
Victa owned three acres of land in Donnybrook in Dublin but went into liquidation. The company's assets and the £1.1 million from the last sale were transferred to Victa's parent company, Warland Investments. Warland was linked to Mr Brennan, Mr Joe McGowan and Mr Finnegan.
The letter transferring Victa's assets appears to contain the signatures of the three men. But Mr Finnegan's counsel said Mr Finnegan did not sign the document.
The tribunal is trying find where the £1.1 million proceeds from the deal ended up. The deal is one of a number the tribunal is investigating. It is known former Fianna Fáil minister Mr Ray Burke was paid £60,000 from one of the deals.
So far the £1.1 million sum has been traced to a Royal Bank of Scotland account in the Isle of Man. The beneficiary of the account was a company in the British Virgin Islands named Echinus, which was linked to Warland Investments.
Mr Brennan has told the tribunal he does not know why the £1.1 million was passed on to Echinus.
Earlier Mr Hanratty said there was a "substantial deficit" in the documentation the tribunal had received in the relation to Mr Brennan's financial affairs.
Mr Brennan has until next Tuesday to produce documents relating to financial trusts in the Isle of Man and Liechtenstein or face possible High Court proceedings for non-compliance with a tribunal order.
