Richardson believed to be key to unravelling Ahern’s finances
This man is Fianna Fáil fundraiser Des Richardson, who was the focus of much of the planning tribunal’s activity this week.
During this session Mr Richardson took the stand at Dublin Castle to explain his involvement in the £22,500 collection for Mr Ahern in December 1993.
He explained how he became fundraiser for Fianna Fáil at a time it was on the verge of bankruptcy.
And how he had become friends with Mr Ahern years earlier at a football match.
When he took up his role with Fianna Fáil he adopted a fundraising method suggested by Cork man Pat O’Callaghan.
He had unrivalled responsibility for the Fianna Fáil accounts. In time his holding companies became inseparable from the finances of Fianna Fáil. For this he was paid £5,000 a month.
He channelled his activities through holding companies Willdover Ltd, Roevin Ltd and another consultancy firm he part owned, Euro Workforce Ltd.
It was he, along with the late Gerry Brennan, who organised Mr Ahern’s first “dig-out” collection and it was he who sanctioned the payments on Christmas week 1993 to Mr Ahern.
Among his contacts when raising funds was Norman Turner, an American businessman who was developing sites in Britain at the time.
In May 1994 Mr Richardson accepted $10,000 while watching a Manchester United match with Mr Turner at Old Trafford.
Mr Turner stipulated this donation to Fianna Fáil was confidential.
At the time he was interested in building a casino in Dublin. Yesterday, it emerged his group signed a confidential agreement with the National Lottery to develop the casino in the Phoenix Park.
This required a change to the Gambling Act before it could be allowed to proceed.
This never happened. However, Mr Richardson accepted the $10,000 payment because Mr Turner said he was interested in supporting the Party.
Mr Richardson did not count the money until he got back to Dublin.
“I wasn’t getting a present from Santa Claus, it could wait,” he said.
Mr Richardson explained this was ploughed back into Fianna Fáil through its promotional arm which ran events such as the tent at the Galway Races.
Tribunal lawyer Des O’Neill made it clear his discomfort at the fact Willdover Ltd was also paying money to Mr Ahern’s “dig-out” fund.
Mr O’Neill said understanding the links between Mr Richardson’s companies and Fianna Fáil would be key to unravelling Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s complicated finances.
Mr Richardson’s counsel expressed its grievances with the way the tribunal had decided to probe the holding companies in question.
However, Mr O’Neill successfully argued the connection between Willdover/Euro Workforce Ltd and Mr Ahern was an essential line of investigation.
“All of this is a direct link, a physical link between Mr Richardson on the one hand and these monies. I would have thought it self-evident to try to establish what the relationship was between the fundraising being done by Mr Richardson individually (and the money),” he said.
In allowing Mr O’Neill freedom to examine Mr Richardson’s companies, Judge Alan Mahon, signalled it would not be satisfied until it was able to document exactly where these companies fit into the puzzle.
“We will go beyond that and understand how Willdover was operated,” he said.
Later on he sanctioned the “trawl” through the financial dealings of Mr Richardson from 1992 to 1996.
This will examine the nature of his dealings with Mr Turner and if there is any truth to allegations Cork property developer Owen O’Callaghan had given money to Mr Ahern.
