A covert investigation was carried out by Mr Frank Reynolds, with the help of Mr James Gogarty, into the management of the Murphy companies, and they reported back to Mr Joe Murphy snr that he was being ripped off, the tribunal was told.
The Murphy companies were being run by Mr Liam Conroy, chief executive of the group, Mr Gogarty said yesterday in evidence.
In 1986, he (Gogarty) was removed from the day-to-day workings of the company, but he was in touch, as he was called on to vet tenders and contracts. He had met Mr Murphy at his home in Dublin and in Guernsey.
"He rang me on Christmas Day 1987 and urgently requested I go straight across on St Stephen's Day to Guernsey. He told me to buy my own ticket and not tell anyone. This was because certain things had happened in the previous six months in the Murphy companies", Mr Gogarty said.
There was very close contact between himself and Mr Frank Reynolds, the present managing director of the Murphy group, who was at the time construction and plant manager. Mr Reynolds was one of the old Murphy crowd, as distinct from the Conroy side.
Mr Reynolds asked him to meet him. The main topic of discussion was the conduct of management and their anxieties. Mr Reynolds had talked to Mr Murphy, who told him to keep at it.
"But Frank Reynolds had, as a result of his function in the company, having control of property and security, he had access to the premises in Santry at all times day and night, and he, even I think he will admit it, that he carried out what maybe I would call a covert operation, where he would get documentation inside and he'd photostat it and he'd give me copies of it, and he did this over a period of about, I'd say, a couple of years", Mr Gogarty said.
Mr Reynolds said Mr Murphy was being ripped off and the company was being run for their own benefit by Mr Conroy, Mr Marcus Sweeney, managing director, and Mr Gerry Downes, chartered accountant. They were spending money "like ewe's milk".
"All this documentation was, to me, supporting his observations and his anxieties about the improprieties that he felt were happening in the companies. And in a way, looking back, I'd be better off being 100 miles from it. He was only walking myself into more trouble, you know, and God I regret it that I got so involved and listened to him so much and then took a part", Mr Gogarty said.
There was developing concern when Mr Murphy realised that he was losing control completely over his companies and was told not to interfere.
In 1987, for the first time in five years, Mr Murphy attended a board meeting in England "because he found out Conroy was ripping him off and that he was a Jekyll and Hyde character", Mr Gogarty said. He did not go, as Mr Downes and Mr Conroy had told him there was no meeting.
It was a fateful meeting. Mr Murphy said afterwards that things were very serious and he told him (Mr Gogarty) to tell Mr Reynolds to keep going with the covert investigation. Mr Murphy was very concerned and worried.