'Below-the-surface' Siteserv process cost taxpayer €30m

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the sale involved an 'above-surface' sales process which decided to grant exclusivity to Denis O’Brien’s bid. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

The sale of Siteserv was based on “misleading and incomplete information” and the taxpayer has been hit with a bill of more than €30m, the Dáil has heard.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the sale involved an “above-surface” sales process which decided to grant exclusivity to Denis O’Brien’s bid and then signed and completed the sale to Mr O’Brien.

But there was a “below-the-surface” process where certain events occurred in the course of the Siteserv sale process without the knowledge of the former Anglo Irish Bank.

This “below-the-surface” process meant that steps were taken and decisions made in the course of the Siteserv sale process in a manner that was clearly and manifestly improper, and which undermined the integrity of the Siteserv sale process, Mr Martin said.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the sale involved an 'above-surface' sales process. Picture: Conor Ó Mearáin/Collins Photo Agency

The commission has also determined that it can be concluded that the Siteserv transaction was, from the perspective of the bank, so tainted by impropriety and wrongdoing, that the transaction was not commercially sound, he said.

The bank, subject to certain assumptions, could have recovered up to €8.7m more than the €44.3m it agreed to accept in the sale.

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“But, of course, this is not the only loss to the taxpayer. The very significant costs arising from the commission are also as a result of this impropriety and wrongdoing,” the Taoiseach said.

To date, costs relating to the commission total €12m, but these do not include third-party legal costs which could run to many millions more.

Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty asked why were higher bids rejected by the bank.

He also said it was “highly unusual” that following the transaction, Siteserv shareholders would be paid €5m, when the company owed so much money.

“This was highly unusual, given the fact that in the normal course of events, when a bank is writing off unpaid obligations, shareholders are never in such a position,” he said.

The findings of the report are shocking, and lift the veil on the reckless and elitist culture that infected certain echelons of big business and high finance during a dark chapter in our State’s history, Mr Doherty said.

“Especially when it concerns a bank that the taxpayer had bailed out at huge economic and social cost.

“It is clear that there were those for whom the ordinary rules that bind ordinary citizens were seen not to apply,” he said.

Mr Doherty said we still do not have robust enough safeguards in place to ensure that individuals do not move freely and with ease between the corridors of corporate Ireland and the corridors of power.

“It exposes our State to undue risks, and casts doubts over the State’s ability to act independently on behalf of its citizens,” he said.