Property developer Mr Tom Gilmartin has been given immunity against prosecution for his allegations about the Taoiseach and senior Fianna Fáil politicians, the Mahon tribunal has heard, writes Paul Cullen.
Mr Gilmartin is now on a collision course with Mr Ahern and other party figures over alleged contacts with them when he was trying to promote two massive shopping developments in the late 1980s, it emerged yesterday.
Counsel for the tribunal, Mr John Gallagher SC, presented an opening statement to the latest module of the tribunal. It revealed major contradictions between Mr Gilmartin's account of the contacts and that given by most government ministers at the time.
It also set out for the first time Mr Pádraig Flynn's account of why Mr Gilmartin paid him £50,000 in 1989. Mr Flynn, who was then minister for the environment, says the developer gave him the money for his personal election expenses.
Three ministers have denied meeting Mr Gilmartin, as claimed, in Leinster House in 1989, while two others, including Mr Ahern, say they have no recollection of such a meeting. In contrast, Ms Mary O'Rourke says she did attend a meeting involving the developer and senior ministers at this time. The then Taoiseach, Mr Haughey, has made no statement on the matter because of ill-health. Immediately after the meeting, Mr Gilmartin says he was approached by an unidentified man who asked him to deposit £5 million in an Isle of Man bank account, the tribunal heard in yesterday's opening statement. Mr Gilmartin refused, saying "you people make the effing Mafia look like monks". He has told the tribunal that the man then warned him that "you could end up in the Liffey for that statement".
His evidence contradicts that of another former Fianna Fáil minister, Mr Ray MacSharry. Mr Gilmartin says he met his fellow Sligoman twice to lobby for his projects but Mr MacSharry denies ever meeting the developer.
It also emerged that Mr Gilmartin complained at this time to senior officials in Dublin Corporation about the demands being made on him by George Redmond, Mr Liam Lawlor and other Fianna Fáil figures. However, in 1989 he had identified Mr Lawlor as the person who subjected him to the £5 million "ransom demand".
According to tribunal lawyers, the DPP has granted Mr Gilmartin immunity "in the public interest" provided his evidence was truthful. At the time this was granted, in 1998, he was living in England and could not be compelled to give evidence at the tribunal. He is the first tribunal witness since Mr James Gogarty to be afforded such protection.
Mr Liam Lawlor received over £57,000 arising from his involvement with Mr Gilmartin's plans to build a shopping centre at Bachelor's Walk, the tribunal's opening statement said.
The former TD says the money paid to him by Mr Gilmartin's English business partners, Arlington Securities, was a political donation. However, Arlington executives told a 1989 Garda inquiry into alleged corruption that no money had been paid to Mr Lawlor. Mr Gilmartin will claim that Mr Lawlor sought a 20 per cent stake in the project.
Mr Lawlor yesterday angrily denied Mr Gilmartin's allegations in his response to the tribunal's opening statement. Describing the allegations as "a pack of lies," he said the developer had made "false, outrageous and unsubstantiated" allegations against him. His business failures had "nothing to do with the Mafia or monks or hundreds of thousands of pounds," Mr Lawlor said.
Mr Flynn will tell the tribunal he got £50,000 from the developer in May 1989, not June, as Mr Gilmartin says. He says he informed Mr Gilmartin there could be "no strings attached" to the contribution and the developer accepted this. Mr Gilmartin says the money was intended for Fianna Fáil and was given some months after the politician sought a "significant contribution" for the party. This occurred after he complained to Mr Flynn about the activities of Mr Lawlor and Redmond, he says.
Mr Gilmartin started giving evidence in public to the tribunal yesterday afternoon.