Former government minister and EU commissioner Pádraig Flynn corruptly sought and received a payment of IR£50,000 from the developer Tom Gilmartin in 1989, Mahon tribunal has found.
In addition to making a finding of corruption against Mr Flynn, the tribunal also said that other sums of £77,000 lodged by Mr Flynn into non-resident accounts in London along with the £50,000 remained unaccounted for.
The tribunal’s three judges rejected Mr Flynn’s evidence that the Luton-based developer had made a personal unsolicited donation to him personally and not to Fianna Fail, as asserted by Mr Gilmartin.
“Mr Flynn wrongfully and in the circumstances corruptly sought a donation from Mr Gilmartin for the FF party,” the inquiry said. “Mr Flynn, having being paid £50,000 by Mr Gilmartin for the Fianna Fáil party, proceeded wrongfully to use the money for his own personal benefit.”
The report has also described the former Mayo politician’s explanation of how he handled Mr Gilmartin’s payment, and other sums, as “astounding, incredible and untrue”.
At the same time, the report has also made a finding that the Mr Gilmartin’s decision to make a payment to Fianna Fail through Mr Flynn was “misconceived and entirely inappropriate”.
However, the report mitigated its findings against Mr Gilmartin by saying: “He did so in circumstances involving an element of duress or coercion, where he believed he had no choice but to act accordingly in order to avoid the obstructive and improper behaviour of elected public representatives and of a senior public servant and to ‘create a level playing field’.”
The tribunal dealt with the £50,000 payment in the chapter surrounding the development of the Quarryvale project, now Liffey Valley shopping centre, in the late 1980s, when Mr Flynn was minister for the environment.
The tribunal, in its findings, accepted all of the evidence given by Mr Gilmartin about their relationship and rejected Mr Flynn’s account.
It accepted Mr Gilmartin’s evidence the payment had been a donation to Fianna Fáil made through Mr Flynn and not a personal donation to him.
It also rejected allegations Mr Gilmartin’s motive in making the payment had been to achieve a favourable tax designation for the development, rather than to get Fianna Fáil to prevent certain people - namely the late Liam Lawlor, Dublin planning official George Redmond and Cllr Finbarr Hanrahan - from seeking money from him or obstructing the development.
It accepted Mr Gilmartin’s evidence that Mr Flynn had told him a substantial contribution to Fianna Fáil might “help curb” such activities.
The report also concluded the £50,000 was lodged by Mr Flynn and his wife Dorothy into an account in Chiswick, London which designated them as non-resident, although both were non-resident. In all the couple, held three non-resident accounts with lodgements totalling £155,278.
It said it found the evidence of both on this account to be incredible and untrue. “None of the lodgements appeared to relate to the salary or income of Mr Flynn,” it said.
The lodgements included a £8,000 payment from National Toll Roads and a further £3,000 from Davy Stockbrokers. Some £77,000 was unaccounted for by Mr Flynn, said the report, which also found that part of the money paid by Mr Gilmartin had been used by the Flynns to purchase a farm in Co Mayo.
“The tribunal is satisfied that only small amount were used by Mr Flynn for political purposes… The tribunal is also satisfied that Mr Flynn went to considerable lengths to conceal the receipt of the £50,000,” it states.
In its narrative, the tribunal said there was considerable contact between Mr Flynn and Mr Gilmartin. It said Mr Gilmartin had first lobbied Mr Flynn in 1987 to extend tax designation to the entirety of a site being developed on Bachelor’s Walk, which was achieved by early 1988.
Mr Flynn said in evidence he was told the money was specifically for him and his political campaigns. He said he was not concerned about receiving it even though the sum was larger than the annual salary of a government minister.
Mr Gilmartin told national organiser Sean Sherwin of the payment at a later meeting but the matter was not pursued at the time.
Mr Sherwin specifically brought up the matter of the payment with incoming taoiseach Albert Reynolds in 1992 but noaction seems to have been taken, the report found.
