MCD CONCERT promoter Eamonn McCann has denied that his assertion to fellow promoter Denis Desmond he had cancer, when he had not, was part of a plan of “deception and lying” aimed at getting his business buy-out proposals back on the table.
Mr McCann said he told the lie on the spur of the moment at a meeting between the two men at Jurys Croke Park Hotel in April 2006 because he was very worried about his own situation after Mr Desmond told him earlier that year he was a “crap” event controller.
Earlier, Michael McDowell SC, for Mr Desmond, had objected to remarks by Mr McCann which counsel said were a new suggestion that Mr Desmond had fraudulently suppressed certain ticket sales using a coding system.
Yesterday was the third day of the Commercial Court hearing of the action by Mr McCann over a June 2006 agreement for Mr Desmond to buy Mr McCann’s share of their alleged partnership in the promotion and operation of outdoor concerts in the Republic for 4.66 times the average net profits for the three years 2003 to 2005.
Mr McCann, Deramore Drive, Belfast, alleges he was unable to find out what was due to him because Mr Desmond had not kept the accounts and income of the alleged partnership as a separate account but instead permitted those funds to be used by his MCD companies.
Mr Desmond denies the claims and says their relationship was not a partnership, but at best a joint venture. The pair first went into business together in 1980, the court heard.
Under cross-examination by Mr McDowell yesterday, Mr McCann agreed he told Mr Desmond he had a rare blood cancer and between three and five years to live. He denied that claim was part of a thought-out plan of “deception and lying” over a long period of time or that, when he had an opportunity to “fess up”, he “lied through his teeth” to get Mr Desmond to do a deal with him.
Mr McDowell suggested Mr McCann lied about having cancer over a sustained period as, when Mr Desmond offered to put him in touch with a cancer specialist, he replied he already had someone and was going to Switzerland for a blood transfusion. Mr McCann said his claim was made over a short and not sustained period.
Earlier, in response to his own counsel, Brian O’Moore SC, Mr McCann said he made up the cancer story on the spur of the moment. He was very worried about his situation as, in 2006, Mr Desmond told him he was a “crap” event controller and brought in someone else to replace him for the Oxegen Festival that year. That was something he took “very personally”.
He did not know why he told Mr Desmond the cancer story. This was “a very bad lie”, “a terrible thing to say” and he regretted it. “It is something I will have to live with.” Two minutes after he made the remark, he realised it was a ridiculous thing to say.
When the two men met again on June 29th, 2006, Mr Desmond asked after his health but the “word cancer was never mentioned”, he said.
Under cross-examination by Mr McDowell, Mr McCann said, after he fell out with Mr Desmond over fees for the “Power Rangers” event in 1995, he did not seek any payment for the break-up of the partnership.
While that relationship was repaired the following year, Mr McCann said he believed the goodwill of the company had a value. He did not know about that value then, he was a bit younger and stronger and Mr Desmond was not as dominant as he is today, he said. Mr McCann also said he believed he might be able to get going on his own again.
Mr McCann disagreed it was not a partnership he had with Mr Desmond after 1995.
Coming up to the year 2001, Mr McCann said he decided he would like to retire in four years’ time, when he reached 50, and asked Mr Desmond to buy him out. He agreed Mr Desmond had said: “There’s nothing to buy out”.
Earlier, Mr McCann said Mr Desmond had not told him about important financial matters which would have enabled him to assess where he stood, including arrangements between Ticketmaster and Mr Desmond’s companies.
These included an arrangement for €5 million for exclusive ticketing arrangements for outdoor concerts in the Republic over a 10-year period, he said. He only learned of such arrangements and other significant arrangements with Ticketmaster after the buyout plan.
Mr McCann said he was aware Ticketmaster operated a two-code system of issuing tickets. This did not “sound right” to him, he said.
When Mr McDowell SC objected to these remarks, saying this was a new suggestion Mr Desmond had fraudulently suppressed ticket sales using a coding system, Mr Justice Brian McGovern said he was not going to decide anything on the basis that something “did not sound right”.
The case continues.