CONTROVERSIAL BUSINESSMAN Jim Kennedy has been appointed a director of Jackson Way Properties, a company at the centre of planning corruption allegations.
Mr Kennedy became a director of the British-registered Jackson Way last February, documents lodged with the Registrar of Companies in the UK show.
His nationality is described as British and his address is in Gibraltar. The other director is Alan Holland, a British property agent who described himself in 2002 as the sole shareholder and director of the company.
Some 107 acres of lands at Carrickmines in south Dublin owned by Jackson Way remain frozen under a High Court order secured by the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) in 2006 after it began proceedings against the company, which has registered offices in Birmingham.
The Cab claims the value of the lands increased by €53 million as a direct result of corrupt conduct when they were rezoned in the 1990s. Former Cab chief officer Felix McKenna told the court the Cab believed the rezoning was procured by corrupt payments to county councillors made by lobbyist Frank Dunlop, “in furtherance” of an agreement with Mr Kennedy.
He also said efforts had been made by the beneficial owners of Jackson Way to obscure the real ownership of the company. The Cab believed the owners were Mr Kennedy and John Caldwell, a former solicitor who lives in the Isle of Man.
Jackson Way was also the subject of a lengthy investigation by the planning tribunal. Mr Dunlop told tribunal lawyers the company was owned by Mr Kennedy, Mr Caldwell and the late Fianna Fáil TD Liam Lawlor. Mr Lawlor denied any involvement, Mr Caldwell said he and Mr Kennedy owned the company and Mr Kennedy failed to co-operate with the inquiry.
Lawyers found that elaborate steps had been taken to conceal ownership of the Carrickmines land, and even after three years of investigation, the full picture was obscured by a lack of co-operation and failure to obtain all legal documents. Ownership appeared to be vested in a number of trusts operating in five overseas and offshore jurisdictions.
Earlier this month, Jackson Way applied to have the Carrickmines lands rezoned under the review of the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown county development plan 2010-2016.
The submission, made by planning consultants Kiaran O’Malley Co on behalf of the company, is one of almost 300 rezoning submissions made by landowners and developers under the review.
It seeks the rezoning of the land for economic development and employment use, which would also allow for residential development.
