Fine Gael's general secretary, Mr Tom Curran, issued this statement last night:
In light of the decision by the Norwegian telecommunications company, Telenor, to publicly disclose its role in making a contribution of US $50,000 to Fine Gael, the party believes that it is now under no further obligation to maintain confidentiality in its dealings with the donor. Accordingly, the party is setting aside the normal convention of that time where it agreed with all donors, prior to the coming into force of the Electoral (Amendment) Act in May 1997, to keep the details of their donations confidential.
In this particular instance, the party is concerned to make a full and complete public statement at the earliest opportunity in order to clarify for the public record all matters of detailed fact that are relevant to a full understanding by the public of this donation.
1. On 6th May, 1997, as part of its fund-raising for the imminent General Election, Fine Gael received an indirect contribution from Mr David Austen. The contribution was made in the form of a personal cheque drawn on Mr Austen's account in the Bank of Ireland Baggot Street branch, in the amount of IR£33,000, payable to Mr Frank Conroy, a long-time supporter of the party. Mr Conroy endorsed and furnished the cheque to Fine Gael.
2. Mr Austen, a wealthy businessman, was a known supporter of Fine Gael, and had occasionally assisted its fundraising efforts. Mr Austen at the time was resident in France and was in declining health.
3. The late Mr Austen had phoned the then General Secretary, Jim Miley, in advance of the payment being made and had indicated his wish to make a personal contribution to the election fund. Therefore, the payment subsequently received was at all times clearly understood to have been a personal contribution from Mr Austen to Fine Gael's pre-election fundraising efforts.
4. Some nine months later, on 11th February, 1998, Mr Miley was contacted by a public affairs consultant, Mr Fintan Drury, who was acting on behalf of Telenor, requesting a meeting with him. The meeting took place on 13th February, 1998, and Mr Drury was accompanied to the meeting by a legal representative of Telenor. Accordingly, the Fine Gael party's own solicitor was also in attendance at the meeting. It was agreed, at the insistence of Telenor's representatives, that the meeting would be conducted under privilege, and that the content of those discussions be kept confidential unless otherwise required by law.
5. It became clear at the outset of the meeting that Telenor's concerns centred around the possibility that the company could be drawn into inquiries being made by the Moriarty tribunal. It was at this point that Telenor disclosed to Fine Gael, for the first time, the true origin of the donation initially made by Mr Austen from his personal account in the Bank of Ireland, Baggot Street. During the course of the meeting the Telenor representatives clarified and disclosed the full circumstances of the donation as follows:
In November 1995, the trustees of the Fine Gael Party organised a fund-raising dinner in New York attended and addressed by the then party leader and Taoiseach, Mr John Bruton, TD. The late Mr Austen was involved in seeking support from Esat, among others, for the event. According to Telenor, Esat declined to support the event directly, but indicated that they, Telenor, as its partner, would make a contribution to the event by taking two corporate tables at a cost of US $50,000.
They further informed us that the payment was made directly to the late Mr Austen, whom Telenor informed us, had asked that the money be lodged into his personal, Jersey-based Bank of Ireland account in January 1996. At the meeting on 13th February, 1998, it was disclosed to Fine Gael that the ultimate donor of the donation was the Esat organisation, of which Telenor were 40 per cent partners. There had been contact between Telenor and Moriarty tribunal and they were concerned about how they should deal with the contribution.
It was pointed out to us further at the meeting that the late Mr Austen was requested to provide an invoice to Telenor for consultancy services rendered. Fine Gael made it quite clear that this was new information that they hadn't been aware of at the time of receipt of the contribution from the late Mr Austen.
The meeting concluded and Fine Gael subsequently made its own inquiries that substantially confirmed the information provided by Telenor.
On 2nd March, 1998, following the conclusion of those inquiries, the party solicitor wrote to the solicitors for Telenor and stated that as a result of this new information, Fine Gael had become aware for the first time as to the origin and mechanism by which the contribution in the name of the late David Austen was made. The letter pointed out further that had the totality of the information been then available to Fine Gael namely, the circuitous manner by which the contribution was routed, and the identity of the true donor, that such a contribution of unclear origin could not be accepted by Fine Gael.
The letter furthermore reiterated the then Fine Gael policy to the effect that it would accept contributions directly from donors. Or where contributions are made through intermediaries, only where the party had established clearly the identity of the ultimate donor at the time of receipt of contribution. As a result of the information given to Fine Gael by Telenor's representatives, we were not satisfied that these conditions could be fulfilled and the party trustees determined that the monies should be repaid to Telenor as the true donor. On 26th February, 1998, a cheque in the sum of IR£33,000, drawn on a Fine Gael account, was tendered to Telenor.
It became a matter of concern to the General Secretary that by mid-May of 1998, the cheque had still be to be encashed. This was brought to the attention of the Telenor representatives, who advised that party solicitor verbally that the cheque had been endorsed over and passed on to Esat Telecom. On 29th May, 1998, the cheque was returned to Fine Gael by Esat. Upon seeking an explanation from them for its return the General Secretary was informed that Esat did not feel it was appropriate for them to take the money back as the original donation might be construed as wrongdoing on their part. The then General Secretary had a meeting with Mr Denis O'Brien in an effort to persuade him to accept the returned cheque, but Mr O'Brien was firm in his view that to do so might lead to adverse inferences about Esat being drawn.
The Fine Gael party leader, Michael Noonan TD, now that he has learned of the donation received and the background events relating to it, is requesting the trustees of the party to arrange that a bank draft be issued in the sum of IR£33,000 to enable the original decision of the trustees to return this donation to be implemented.
At the direction of the party leader, the Fine Gael solicitor is to write to the Moriarty tribunal and to offer to it the fullest co-operation of the party in relation to the circumstances of this donation insofar as such matters may be relevant to its terms of reference.
It is important to note that the decision taken by the new Fine Gael leader, Michael Noonan, TD, to end all corporate donations to the party, on and from February 9th, has drawn a very clear line for the new leadership of Fine Gael in this matter. This decision was announced on the day Michael Noonan was elected as leader of Fine Gael and he did not know at that time of the matters detailed in this statement.