Mara comes under fire for failing to tell of offshore account

PJ MARA, Fianna Fáil's director of elections for the Nice Treaty campaign, has been criticised by the tribunal for failing to co-operate with its inquiry.

Mr Mara failed to tell the tribunal of an offshore account despite swearing an oath that he had revealed all of his financial affairs. The former press secretary to Fianna Fáil said he had forgotten about the Isle of Man account, but this was rejected by the tribunal, which said it was unlikely given that transactions took place in it as late as September 1997.

The tribunal's interest in Mr Mara's financial affairs began after question marks were raised over his role in awarding of a broadcast licence to Century Radio. James Stafford, one of Century's backers, told the tribunal there were rumours that Mr Burke and Mr Mara were seeking money in exchange for broadcast licences.

When the tribunal sought to establish whether Mr Mara received money from firms seeking broadcast licences, Mr Mara said all his business activities were carried through his company Mara Communications Ltd.

But the tribunal later discovered he had failed to disclose that he owned an Isle of Man account in the name of Pullman Ltd. His links to the account would not have shown up in a routine search of the Companies Office.

The link was only discovered by the tribunal when it spotted a transfer of funds from the offshore account to his Bank of Ireland account in Ireland.

Details of this Irish account had been originally provided to the tribunal by Mr Mara. The tribunal, however, did not find any link between Mr Mara's financial affairs which could be linked to the winners of broadcast licences issued from 1988 onwards. James Stafford had claimed that on three occasions he had either been asked for funds for Mr Mara or had heard rumours that money was being sought in connection with the licence. He claimed that he had been told by financier Dermot Desmond that Mr Mara was seeking a payment of £30,000. Mr Stafford also said Oliver Barry, a key player in Century Radio, had told him Mr Mara was seeking a £30,000 payment from the radio station. Major conflicts in evidence and divergences in accounts between the witnesses were also highlighted by the Tribunal.It commented that in evidence over the alleged demand for £30,000, Mr Mara and Mr Desmond represented one faction, while Mr Stafford and Mr Barry represented the other.

Mr Mara was press secretary to Fianna Fáil between 1983 and 1987.

In 1987 he was appointed Government Press Secretary and he held this position until February 1992.