Mahon tribunal: A Dublin accountant has told the tribunal that Jackson Way was a "front" company that did not actually own the land at Carrickmines in south Dublin it claimed to control. Paul Cullen reports.
Mr Frank Sheedy, a partner with BDO Simpson Xavier, agreed with tribunal lawyers that the ownership of Jackson Way involved five companies in five jurisdictions - Ireland, England, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Panama. However, he said he had never come across such an arrangement in his past experience.
He told Mr Des O'Neill SC, for the tribunal, that to the outside world it appeared Jackson Way owned the company. While this was a front, it had a commercial reality, for example, for people who wished to buy the land.
The tribunal is investigating the ownership of Jackson Way, which has been linked to solicitor Mr John Caldwell and businessman Mr Jim Kennedy. The company has claimed compensation on 20 acres of the 100 acres it owns at Carrickmines which have been compulsorily acquired for the South-Eastern motorway.
In 1993, Mr Sheedy's company - then known as Simpson Xavier - was asked by a Birmingham-based estate agent, Mr Alan Holland, to advise him on the Irish tax implications after Mr Holland was asked to act as a trustee of Jackson Way.
Mr Holland was appointed to act as a "middle-man" for the company who would "spring into action" once tax issues had been resolved by accountants, according to evidence presented to the tribunal yesterday.
Mr Des O'Neill put it to the witness that Jackson Way was set up as an English-registered company to act as a "firewall" so that the ownership of the Carrickmines land could not be established by the Revenue Commissioners or any other authority.
Mr Sheedy said he didn't think it was. It may have been done for commercial reasons.
Earlier, he told the tribunal his files on Mr Holland's inquiry were not available and appeared to be missing. Other relevant files may have been shredded after being kept for an eight-year period.
He said he advised Mr Holland that in his view there was a potential liability to tax and it would be unwise to proceed unless he first obtained legal advice.
Further hearings in the Carrickmines module of the tribunal's investigation will continue in October.
Today former minister Mr Pádraig Flynn is scheduled to give his evidence in the Quarryvale module, when he will be cross-examined by Mr Liam Lawlor.
Mr Flynn is expected to complete his evidence by the end of the week, when the tribunal breaks for the summer recess.