INVESTMENTS TOTALLING £68,000 made by Beverley Flynn on behalf of former EU commissioner Pádraig Flynn came from cash he had accumulated in his safe, the Mahon tribunal was told yesterday.
Mr Flynn said he could not say exactly how much he had in his safe in November 1989, when he made the first investment of £25,000 with his daughter, Ms Flynn, and he could not directly attribute it to a cash withdrawal of £25,000 he made from his non-resident bank account.
Counsel for the tribunal, Patricia Dillon SC, outlined details of the account opened by Mr Flynn and his wife Dorothy in June 1989 in Castlebar. The account had an address for the couple in Chiswick, London, and was a "repository for political donations", Ms Dillon said. Mr Flynn acknowledged that he never lived in Chiswick, but described the account as "external".
Some £53,920 was lodged to the account when it was opened, and by June 26th the balance of the account was £71,729, the tribunal was told. Ms Dillon asked if all of the money was from political donations.
"I believe it was," Mr Flynn said. Mr Flynn paid out almost £15,000 in election expenses between July 25th and September 11th that year. On October 3rd, £25,000 was withdrawn from the account and he said he used all of this for election expenses.
Ms Dillon said the safe contained money from a "confluence of sources" and there was no record of any of the money in it. She said that it appeared more than £39,000 was spent on the election, almost 80 per cent of Mr Flynn's total £51,000 salary that year.
"The election cost a lot more than that," Mr Flynn said.
Ms Dillon asked if he had any documents or receipts for the expenses he incurred.
"I have sought such evidence and it is not available," Mr Flynn replied.
A second sum of £25,000 was withdrawn from the account on November 20th and three days later, Ms Flynn made an investment of £25,000 on behalf of her father.
Ms Dillon asked Mr Flynn where he got that money. He said it came from his safe. She suggested that he was mistaken and that the money came from his political donation account and was given to Ms Flynn for the purposes of a personal investment.
"That is not true," Mr Flynn replied.
Ms Dillon asked Mr Flynn how much he had in his safe at the time. He said he could not say, but agreed that it was a mixture of political donations, salary and what was left over from cashed cheques. He acknowledged that it was from this money that the £25,000 investment was made.
The investment was topped up with an additional £10,000 in July 1990, the tribunal was told.
Ms Dillon asked where this money came from. Mr Flynn said this was also from his safe.
"I always had the practice of keeping some money at home in my safe. I still do," he said.
In December 1993, Ms Flynn invested an additional £33,000 in Chemical Bank, New York, for her father. Mr Flynn said this was also money from his safe, which was accumulated cash exchanged in Brussels and brought home to be used in Ireland.
