Payment was to 'ensure' planning permission

The owners of rezoned land at Swords, Co Dublin, made a £12,000 payment to lobbyist Frank Dunlop to "ensure" planning permission was obtained on the land, the tribunal has heard.

This reference to Mr Dunlop's role is contained in the financial records of Rayband Ltd, the company which owned the land at Lissenhall. Businessman Joe Moran and his family largely owned Rayband.

Yesterday, Donal Lynch, the company secretary of Rayband, who prepared the company's books for auditing, said that the choice of words used to describe Mr Dunlop's role was probably his.

He understood that Mr Dunlop had provided professional services for the company and he, in preparing the books, was describing what the lobbyist was doing.

Mr Dunlop alleges that he bribed three councillors to have the Lissenhall land rezoned for industry in 1992. He also claims that the owners of the land were aware that money would have to be paid to councillors to achieve this objective. The owners of Rayband deny any knowledge of the payments allegedly made by Mr Dunlop.

Mr Lynch, who is also secretary of the publicly-quoted IFG financial services group, which part-owns Rayband, said that he was not a property person and would mix up planning permission and rezoning. "Ensure" was a very strong word, but he would not have been choosing his words carefully.

Patricia Dillon SC, for the tribunal, said there were a number of peculiarities in the way the payment made in 1993 was treated in the company's books. In total, Mr Dunlop received three payments amounting to almost £28,000 from IFG Securities, a subsidiary of IFG group, on behalf of Rayband. Two were invoiced and included VAT, but a £12,000 payment was not invoiced, VAT was not included, and it was assigned to a related private company rather than a publicly-quoted company in the IFG group.

Mr Lynch agreed with Judge Alan Mahon that it was normal practice in accountancy to seek a VAT invoice if one could not be found, so that the VAT could be reclaimed. However, in this case he had not sought one.

Asked why he did not check the invoice with the owners of the company, he said that he could offer no reasonable explanation at this stage.

Colm Moran, a director of IFG group and a brother of Joe Moran, said that Mr Dunlop's role was to help Rayband get the land rezoned. He understood that Mr Dunlop would be talking to councillors. He met the lobbyist once.

Asked about Mr Dunlop's allegations of bribery, Mr Moran said he did not remember Mr Dunlop saying at their meeting that councillors would have to be paid. He himself would not have said such a thing at the meeting and he did not recollect two associates who also attended saying it.