Cowen: Fás boss did not threaten to sue

THE Fás scandal descended to a new level of farce last night as Taoiseach Brian Cowen flatly contradicted evidence given to a Dáil committee and insisted Rody Molloy had not threatened legal action in order to secure his massive pay-off.

The Taoiseach’s assertion went against testimony by Department of Enterprise secretary general Sean Gorman to the Public Accounts Committee and is also at odds with statements by Green coalition leader John Gormley.

As the Government again attempted to scramble clear from the mess left in the wake of Mr Molloy’s €1m “golden goodbye”, opposition leaders insisted the cabinet’s story was unravelling as “clarifications” were prompting more questions than answers – such as why offer such a lucrative deal if no legal action was threatened?