BUSINESSMAN JIM Kennedy was brought before a late sitting of the Dublin District Court yesterday where he was charged with numerous counts of corrupt payments to politicians.
Judge David McHugh held that the 63-year-old father of 10 would have to stay in custody at Cloverhill Prison until a €30,000 cash bail in his own bond was lodged.
He also set an independent surety of €50,000, to be lodged with the prison governor by Kennedy’s wife, after the court refused to accept a personal cheque from her yesterday evening.
Mr Kennedy was detained by the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) on Tuesday after emerging from the Four Courts where he had attended proceedings by the bureau against his company, Jackson Way Properties.
Kennedy, three former councillors and one current council member were charged with corruption.
A Cab detective told Judge McHugh that Kennedy was charged with 16 offences. He made no reply to the first charge when it was put to him, and after caution said “nothing to say” to the remaining 15 counts.
The officer objected to bail, telling Judge McHugh the defendant had a number of addresses including one at Apartment 5, Floor 4 of the Four Seasons Hotel, Ballsbridge. He said the Dublin address was only provided by him yesterday.
He said Kennedy had more addresses in Gibraltar and London, and had no connection with the State. He said Kennedy had not lived in Ireland since the early- to mid-1990s, and had relinquished his citizenship.
Kennedy had connections with Spain, the Canary Islands, Switzerland and the Isle of Man, he also told the court.
An address had been given by Kennedy at Hanover Terrace in London. It had not been possible to establish the defendant’s status in relation to that property, which has links to overseas companies.
He cited the seriousness of the offences as a further ground for refusing bail to Kennedy.
Judge McHugh set bail at €30,000 and an independent surety of €50,000 which is to be lodged by his wife, and remanded Kennedy to appear again at Cloverhill District Court on Tuesday.
Once bail is taken up he will have to sign on daily at Donnybrook Garda station, reside at the Ballsbridge address he has given and surrender his passport. Charges brought against him include payments to induce politicians to rezone 108 acres of land at Carrickmines, south Dublin.
The charges include allegations of payments to former Dublin city councillor Seán Gilbride at the offices of former government press secretary and lobbyist Frank Dunlop, in Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2, on June 11th, 1992; to former Dublin city councillor Jack Larkin at Conway’s public house, Parnell Street, Dublin; to former Dublin city councillor Tom Hand on May 4th, 1992, at the reception area of Dublin County Council, and to former Dublin city councillor Liam Cosgrave on a date between June 12th and June 29th, 1992.
The first of the three former councillors charged to appear in court was Seán Gilbride (69), of Greenlawns, Skerries, Dublin. He replied “not guilty” when charged at the Bridewell Garda station in Dublin yesterday. He allegedly received a sum at the offices of Frank Dunlop on a date between June 11th and June 29th, 1992.
Next was Colm McGrath (54), from Swiftford, Saggart, Dublin, who replied: “I vehemently reject the charge.” He allegedly received a sum at his office in Clondalkin between June 12th and June 29th, 1992.
Don Lydon (82), of Stillorgan Park Avenue, Dublin, replied “I am not guilty” after he was charged at Harcourt Terrace station yesterday evening, the court heard. He allegedly received a sum at St John of God’s in Dublin on May 4th, 1992.
Cllr Tony Fox (70), of Mountainview Park, Churchtown, Dublin 14, was the last to appear in front of the judge and faced five charges.
The proceedings heard that he replied “not guilty” when cautioned after his arrest at Harcourt Terrace station yesterday afternoon.
He allegedly received sums on October 30th, 1997, as well as on a date between October 30th, 1997 and December 25th, 1997 and on a date between June 12th and June 29th, 1992.
They were remanded on bail to appear again at the Dublin District Court next Thursday.
JIM KENNEDY: BUSINESSMAN
BUSINESSMAN JAMES Kennedy is the "principal director" of UK company Jackson Way, and has homes in Gibraltar and the Isle of Man.
The 63-year-old is a native of Abbeyleix, Co Offaly. His family were involved in farming, butchering and building, according to a source close to the family. When Mr Kennedy was in his teens, his father died and he became involved in the family businesses. He soon moved his business activities to Dublin.
He was involved in a 422-house development in Weston Park, Newcastle, Co Dublin in the 1980s. However, Bank of Ireland, which provided finance, appointed Bernard Somers as receiver to the companies involved in September 1989. The companies tried to challenge the move, but were unable to convince the courts they would be able to pay costs if they failed in their action.
Mr Kennedy also ran an amusement arcade on Westmoreland Street in Dublin. The business, Amusement City, has been going since 1974. Mr Kennedy is no longer a shareholder or director of the company concerned, KSK Enterprises Ltd, though his wife, Antoinette, and some of his children are involved.
In 1975, Mr Kennedy had paid the highest price then recorded for a pub, his wife told the planning tribunal. In one deal alone in 1983, he had paid tax of £1.3 million (€1.65 million), she said.
Company filings indicate Mr Kennedy left Ireland around the late 1990s.
According to the family source, he moved abroad and became involved in commercial property in the UK.
He had an address in the Isle of Man but more recently had been using an address in Gibraltar. He is not resident here for tax purposes, and had an Isle of Man passport at one stage, but he now carries a Gibraltar passport, according to the source. Mr Kennedy, whose first wife died in a car accident, has 10 children.
– COLM KEENA
DON LYDON: MEMBER OF SEANAD FOR 20 YEARS
BORN IN Dublin but brought up in Co Donegal, the former Fianna Fáil senator and county councillor is 72. In the late 1960s and early 1970s he was the drummer with Galway showband The Philosophers.
He received a BA from University College Galway, with postgraduate qualifications in psychology. He worked as a consultant psychologist at St John of God's Hospital in Stillorgan, Dublin where he eventually became head of psychology.
He was first elected a councillor in 1985 and was a member of the Seanad from 1987 to 2007. He holds strong anti-abortion and morally conservative views and is a member of several Catholic organisations.
TONY FOX: INDEPENDENT DUBLIN COUNCILLOR
TONY FOX is the only former Fianna Fáil councillor of the four charged yesterday to remain a publicly elected representative.
Now an independent councillor, Mr Fox retained his seat in the 2009 local elections. A member of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, he lives in Churchtown and represents the Dundrum electoral area.
He became an independent before last year's election after he failed to secure a nomination on the Fianna Fáil ticket.
Trained as a tailor, he is a member of the council's county enterprise board, the southside partnership and the social inclusion measures sub-committee/rapid county monitoring group.
SEÁN GILBRIDE: SUPPORTER OF QUARRYVALE PROJECT
FROM SLIGO, Mr Gilbride lives in Skerries, Co Dublin and trained as a teacher.
In 1992 he took a career break from teaching and planned to run in the general election. However, Mr Gilbride was not selected to run in the election that year or the subsequent Seanad election. He unsuccessfully sought a nomination again in 1996.
As a Fianna Fáil county councillor, Mr Gilbride was a consistent supporter of the Quarryvale project which became the Liffey Valley shopping centre.
COLM McGRATH: LONG-TIME FF STANDARD BEARER
COLM McGRATH was a long-time Fianna Fáil standard-bearing councillor in Clondalkin, Dublin.
He ran as an independent in 1999 after he was deselected by party headquarters in the local elections, having originally been on the party ticket.
He was re-elected, topping the poll in the area with more than 1,000 votes. He replaced the Fianna Fáil logo on his election literature with the McGrath family crest, which had the motto "This We Hold In Trust".
First elected in the mid-1980s to Dublin County Council, he was selected to run for Fianna Fáil in the 1997 general election in Dublin South West but was unsuccessful. He served as chairman of the Dublin Regional Authority in 1998.