The Flood tribunal rejected claims by Dublin West TD Mr Liam Lawlor that he had no involvement with beef baron Mr Larry Goodman in relation to a land deal in Co Dublin, the High Court was told yesterday.
A solicitor for the tribunal, Ms Maire Anne Howard, said lands at Coolamber, Lucan, were offered for sale by tender and were the subject of an agreement between Mr Lawlor and Mr Goodman. The tribunal had received a number of memorandums from Mr Goodman.
Mr Lawlor, in an affidavit, said he had no beneficial interest in the companies which owned the lands from 1987 onwards. Although he accepted he had always hoped he would be paid a portion of the profit out of ultimate developments there, he did not believe he had ever any beneficial interest in the underlying companies involved.
Yesterday was the third day of the hearing by Mr Justice Smyth of submissions as to whether Mr Lawlor has supplied the tribunal with all the documents it wants concerning his financial affairs. The tribunal contends he has not met his obligations. Mr Lawlor says he believes he has.
Mr Lawlor had stated in an affidavit opened on Monday that he had no knowledge of a company named Navona Ltd, nor had he any dealings with a company of that name. "From information obtained by the tribunal to date, this averment is untrue," Ms Howard said.
In an affidavit, she referred to a memorandum provided to the tribunal by Mr Goodman. He had informed the tribunal he was the author of the document and that it recorded a proposal put to him by Mr Lawlor in 1987 in respect of a proposal to acquire by tender Coolamber House and lands at Lucan.
Mr Goodman had produced to the tribunal a memo dated July 17th, 1987, prepared by Mr Brian Britton, an employee with responsibility for his financial affairs. Ms Howard said it appeared from the memo that a document recorded proposals for financing the acquisition of Coolamber, including a reference which she believed referred to Bank of Nova Scotia.
Ms Howard said the tribunal had obtained from Binchys solicitors, for Navona Ltd, a copy of a declaration of trust dated January 8th, 1988, by Navona Ltd, Isle of Man, under which it declared it held lands on a Co Dublin folio in trust for Southfield Property Co Ltd in Dublin. These were the Coolamber lands offered for sale by tender and the subject of an agreement between Mr Lawlor and Mr Goodman, she added.
Scotiabank, Bank of Nova Scotia, had issued a loan facility letter to Southfield in December 1987 offering to advance £350,000. She referred to references to "security" in the letter in which it was said that a letter of comfort from L. J. Goodman would be provided, which included a provision that Mr Goodman should not relinquish 100 per cent beneficial ownership of the borrower so long as any amounts remained outstanding under the facility.
The tribunal was told by Mr Goodman that notwithstanding a letter of undertaking, he was never provided with any shareholding in Southfield and that this company later sold its interest in the lands to an Isle of Man company, Vino Property Ltd.
The tribunal was informed by Mr Goodman that in 1993-98, he was seeking to recover from Mr Lawlor the money he had spent in the payment of interest on the Southfield property in respect of the lands purchased by Navona Ltd.
In the course of those dealings, Mr Goodman said he was provided by Mr Lawlor with a memo prepared by the TD and faxed in December 1994. Ms Howard said she was referring to that memo to establish that Mr Lawlor had claimed in it to have held various shareholdings in the lands in respect of which he has denied involvement.
In a replying affidavit, Mr Lawlor said he told Mr Goodman of the Coolamber lands in 1987 and asked if he would be interested in becoming involved. They contemplated Mr Goodman investing up to £50,000 towards supporting a company named Advanced Protein Ltd and the possible purchase of the Coolamber lands.
He had hoped that if the lands could be successfully developed, he would receive a share of the profits. He believed that throughout that period the property remained in ownership of Southfield. He held no legal or beneficial ownership in Southfield which, as far as he was concerned, was beneficially owned by Mr Goodman.