Concealing Haughey name in project a ‘coincidence’

A DUBLIN businessman said yesterday it was “coincidence” that he and two associates failed to tell the Mahon Planning Tribunal about Ciaran Haughey’s involvement in their airfreight warehousing project.

However, Stephen Fitzgerald admitted they concealed Mr Haughey’s name from documents because “we felt it would bring no value if it was known Mr Haughey was involved in our project”.

The planning tribunal is investigating the rezoning of a 24-acre landlocked site near Dublin Airport in 1993 and former Transport Minister Brian Cowen’s decision in principle to grant commercial road access across department lands for the venture.

When requested to furnish statements as part of the public inquiry, all of Mr Haughey’s partners omitted to mention the key fact that Mr Haughey was also involved with them, the tribunal heard.

Mr Fitzgerald agreed neither he nor his Cargobridge business consortium associates, PJ Cousins and Anthony Delaney, had disclosed to the tribunal the fourth party was Celtic Helicopters’s owners, Mr Haughey and John Barnicle.

Although they knew Mr Haughey and Mr Barnicle to be the beneficial owners of shelf company Abervanta Ltd, holding a 15% stake in the consortium, the individual statements the other partners made to the tribunal only mentioned Abervanta and not who its owners were.

Tribunal lawyer Patricia Dillon SC put it to Mr Fitzgerald that disclosure of Mr Haughey’s involvement to the tribunal was “a very important fact”.

Mr Fitzgerald agreed that it was important to tell the tribunal who were the owners of the lands which they sought to have rezoned and to make a profit from.

When the consortium, headed by Michael McGuinness, bought the lands, Mr Haughey’s father Charles J Haughey was Taoiseach.

Pressed to explain why he and Mr Cousins and Mr Delaney had left out reference in his statement earlier this year to Mr Haughey being a consortium partner, Mr Fitzgerald said he could not. He insisted he had compiled his statement for the tribunal independently from his associates.

After Mr Fitzgerald denied discussing the contents of his tribunal statement with his two associates — who also had left out reference to Mr Haughey — Ms Dillon said: “So it must be a coincidence, is that it?”

Mr Fitzgerald agreed.

Judge Gerald Keys put it to Mr Fitzgerald that the motive for not disclosing Mr Haughey’s name was because of the Haughey name.

Mr Fitzgerald told Ms Dillon he was aware there were rumours about the Abervanta ownership in the 1991/92 period. The rumours prompted the consortium to send a letter through its solicitors to Dublin County Council stating Michael McGuinness and Anthony Delaney beneficially owned Abervanta.

Earlier, lobbyist Frank Dunlop insisted he had not deliberately lied to the tribunal since turning whistleblower and admitting, in May 2000, he had bribed councillors to vote for rezoning motions.

He defended his claim to have paid the late Cyril Gallagher £1,000 (€1,270) to vote for the rezoning of the Cargobridge lands near Dublin Airport, now being investigated. He also repeated an allegation of bribing another councillor, Tony Fox, to support the motion.

Businessman Ben Dunne, who went bank guarantor for a £185,000 (€235,000) loan to fund Ciaran Haughey’s share in the Cargobridge land purchase, is due to testify at the tribunal when it resumes next Wednesday.