The auditor of Bovale Developments said he had given incorrect information to the Flood tribunal while giving evidence last week.
Mr Joe O'Toole said yesterday he did not send Bovale Developments accounts for the year ending June 1997 to the Revenue Commissioners, as he had told the tribunal on May 29th.
He also said he had not contacted the Revenue Commissioners by correspondence on May 26th as he had previously said.
Mr O'Toole was speaking after evidence had been given to the tribunal by a senior inspector of taxes at the Revenue Commissioners, Mr Denis Graham.
Mr Graham said no accounts by Bovale Developments for the year ending June 1997 were submitted to the Revenue Commissioners and no letter had been received after May 26th referring to a major review of the Bovale accounts.
Mr O'Toole said he had not given the tribunal the correct information because he did not have the correct file to hand. He said the evidence he had given that the 1997 accounts were draft accounts was true.
Counsel for the tribunal, Ms Patricia Dillion SC, put it to Mr O'Toole that the entire line of questioning put to him regarding the 1997 accounts on May 29th was based on a falsehood.
She said he had had several months' notice of the request to give evidence regarding the accounts and had documents on the day, including the 1997 accounts. Mr O'Toole was called to give evidence after his counsel, Mr Charles Meenan SC, attempted to explain the incorrect information supplied to the tribunal by saying a letter had been sent to the Revenue Commissioners on November 3rd, 1999 regarding the Bovale Developments accounts.
He said as the affidavit for discovery was sworn in October 1999, the November letter could not have been included.
The issue was also raised of two letters written to the Revenue Commissioners in July 1999 and not presented to the tribunal in the request for discovery.
However, Ms Dillion said the letter dated in November had not been handed into the tribunal as part of a discovery request made last September and so could not now be presented to the tribunal.
She said the matter could only be resolved if a supplementary affidavit was submitted and Mr O'Toole corrected his evidence.
Mr Justice Flood said it would have been appropriate for Mr O'Toole to give the tribunal the letter and keep it up to date.
He said he was not going to regard the letter of November 3rd as he wanted to enforce the rule of not presenting new documentation to the tribunal. Otherwise chaos would ensue.
The chairman requested that an up-to-date and complete discovery be presented to the tribunal from Mr O'Toole within seven days. Mr Meenan said his client had made an "honest oversight".