Tribunal bids to secure attendance of solicitor
Tribunal chairman, Judge Alan Mahon, announced its decision to take the unprecedented step in an effort to persuade a London-based solicitor, Tony Seddon, to travel to Dublin to give evidence about his dealings with Liam Lawlor.
The former Fianna Fáil TD said he had also requested Mr Seddon to attend the hearing at Dublin Castle.
The tribunal has heard evidence that Mr Lawlor used Seddons’ notepaper to obtain a stg£117,500 under-the-counter payment in January 2001 from the property developer, Michael Whelan of Maplewood Homes for the sale of one acre of his land in Lucan.
Mr Seddon has already confirmed in writing to the tribunal that his practice had not issued an invoice to one of Mr Whelan’s companies, Lunar Sea Developments, for that sum as he had never acted for Mr Whelan. The solicitor has also acknowledged that two cheques worth stg£117,500 from Lunar Sea were paid into a client account held for Mr Lawlor.
Mr Seddon, whose offices in London and Prague have been used by Mr Lawlor, had indicated to the tribunal by fax on Tuesday his willingness to attend a hearing at Dublin Castle to assist the inquiry.
Mr Seddon said it seemed highly appropriate that he should comment on certain matters given the evidence already heard by the tribunal. The solicitor said he would travel to Dublin provided he was given a business class air ticket as well as being paid his standard professional rate of stg£260 (364) per hour.
The tribunal replied it would meet his travelling expenses as well as his fees, although there was no provision for any interim payment until the conclusion of all evidence relating to Mr Lawlor. However, the tribunal’s office was subsequently contacted by Mr Seddon at 7.10pm on Tuesday evening and told he had reconsidered his position and would not now travel to Dublin. Mr Seddon said he was apprehensive about not being able to deal with all the matters in an appropriate manner as he had been unable to read all the relevant documentation relating to Mr Lawlor.
Tribunal barrister Des O’Neill SC said efforts were made to rearrange another date for Mr Seddon to travel to Ireland. However, the solicitor was reluctant to give a commitment that he would ever appear before the inquiry. The tribunal has no legal powers to compel people living outside the jurisdiction to attends its hearings.
Judge Mahon said it appeared that something had happened over the previous 24 hours which had caused Mr Seddon to change his mind.
Because of the serious matters which Mr Seddon was due to address, the chairman said the tribunal was going to direct that the English Law Society be furnished with the relevant transcripts of its hearings about the relationship between the solicitor and Mr Lawlor. “The tribunal hopes that might persuade Mr Seddon to attend at some date in the future and co-operate with the tribunal,” said Judge Mahon.
At the close of yesterday’s hearing, Mr O’Neill said the tribunal had received a further fax from Mr Seddon in which he stated that no disrespect was intended from his non-attendance. He indicated he would consider travelling to Dublin next month but said he would prefer to have advance notice of any questions which the tribunal wished to put to him.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
