Mahon Tribunal report to be published tomorrow morning

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Just now from RTE twitter

RTÉ News ‏ @rtenews Close
A government spokesperson has said ministers expect that the Mahon Tribunal Report will be published tomorrow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahon_Tribunal

Final Mahon report 'due tomorrow'


Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern is braced for the findings of a massive corruption inquiry




Wednesday March 21 2012
Speculation has deepened that the fifth and final report of the longest corruption inquiry in Irish history is set to be published.

Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, his ex-colleagues, the Government and political parties have been braced for months for the findings of the tribunal into planning matters and payments.

Fifteen years after its establishment and with costs estimated at up to 300 million euro, the long-awaited expose by Judge Alan Mahon is due to be sent to parliament before being published online.

Fallout is expected to focus on allegations that a developer boasted about paying off Mr Ahern with IR£50,000 in 1989, and a further IR£30,000 sum in 1992 when he was finance minister.

Ironically, the tribunal was set up by Mr Ahern's Fianna Fail government in 1997 to probe allegations of corruption and herald a new era in politics.

The former taoiseach has always denied taking payment for a political favour.

His evidence took the public on a mind-boggling trip through unsolicited whip-rounds, lodgements to various bank accounts - not to mention a lack of bank accounts - cash in bags and currency conversions.

Mr Ahern insisted the period was one of the most difficult of his life as he was going through marriage separation, had no home of his own and was not using bank accounts as his marriage came to an end.

The inquiry was originally sparked by cash for votes accusations in Dublin councils in the early 1990s which spread to include big hitters in the Fianna Fail party. TDs, ministers and former prime ministers all gave evidence.

Allegations centred on the bribing of councillors for the re-zoning of massive swathes of land around the capital from low value greenfield to lucrative commercial or residential sites.

www.independent.ie

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Just published...

Several corruption findings in Mahon report
Updated: 10:20, Thursday, 22 March 2012

The Mahon Tribunal has published its final report after 15 years of public hearings involving over 600 witnesses.


Final report after 15 years of public hearings



The final report of the Mahon Tribunal has been published.

The report, running to 3,270 pages, makes several findings of corruption against a number of witnesses.

It stops short of a corruption finding in respect of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern but it totally rejects his evidence and that of related witnesses about the sources of monies in his own and related bank accounts.

The tribunal finds that Mr Ahern failed to truthfully account for a total of IR£165,214.25 passing through accounts connected with him.

It also finds that in relation to the B/T account, known as the Bertie/Tim account by bank staff in the Permanent Tsb, Mr Ahern and his associate, Tim Collins, failed to truthfully account for IR£50,000 lodged into this account between 1992-94.

In the introduction to the report the judges say a number of senior cabinet ministers made sustained and virulent attacks on the integrity of the tribunal members.

They say there is "little doubt" the objectives of these extraordinary and unprecedented attacks on the tribunal were to undermine the efficient conduct of the tribunal, erode its independence and collapse the inquiry.

The report, from an inquiry that has lasted 15 years and has already made corruption findings against a number of developers and a former minister, has been laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas.

The last report from the Planning and Payments Tribunal comes after 1,200 days of public hearings involving over 600 witnesses.

The previous chairman Fergus Flood made corruption findings against a number of individuals, including the developers JMSE and Brennan and McGowan.

Former minister Ray Burke and former Dublin city and county manager George Redmond were later prosecuted in the courts.

The report focuses on the allegations of developer Tom Gilmartin, who described a series of demands for money from the late Liam Lawlor and other politicians during his attempt to build a shopping centre in west Dublin.
It was Mr Gilmartin's allegation that Bertie Ahern was paid by rival developer Owen O'Callaghan that led to a serving Taoiseach being bought before the inquiry.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Fianna Fáil spokesman on Finance Michael McGrath said he hoped the report would result in an improvement in the planning process.

More to follow...

RTE

1036 Former Minister and EU Commissioner Padraig Flynn "wrongly and corruptly" sought a substantial donation from Mr Tom Gilmartin for the Fianna Fail party and having being paid IR£50,000 by Mr Gilmartin for that purpose proceeded to use that money for his personal benefit.
The Tribunal was satisfied that the £50,000 funded at least a significant portion of the purchase of a farm in Co Mayo in the name of Padraig Flynns wife and was not used except minimally for political expenditure associated with Mr Flynn.

1028 A lodgement of IR£28,772.90 made by Celia Larkin on 5 December 5 1994 into an AIB account on Upper O'Connell Street was not - as contended by Bertie Ahern - around Stg£30,000 in cash, given by Micheal Wall, but was in fact $45,000 dollars in cash

More and more...

1108 Tom Gilmartin claimed that in February 1989, when he emerged from a meeting room in Leinster House with then Taoiseach Charles Haughey and a number of ministers, he was confronted by a an unidentified person who proceeded to corruptly demand IR£5m from him.
He also told the tribunal he was provided by the individual with details of an offshore account into which the money was to be paid.

1108 Former Fianna Fáil TD GV Wright received a IR£5,000 "corrupt" payment from Christopher Jones in November 1992, in relation to the Ballycullen/Beechill rezoning projects.
The money was not given to assist his political expenses, but rather to ensure he would "exert influence on his Fianna Fáil councillor colleagues."

1100 Bertie Ahern's "usual practice" in the period 1987-1993 was "to cash salary and expenses cheques...rather than using a bank account", but it rejects Ahern's evidence that he had accumulated about IR£54,000 in savings.

Fianna Fail wants Mahon Report sent to DPP




The Fianna Fail leader Michael Martin has written to the clerk of the Dail and asked for the report of the Mahon Tribunal to be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).



Mr. Martin has also convened a meeting of the Fianna Fail officer board for this evening.

Members will discuss the party response to the report.

Newstalk


It is likely that steps will be taken to expel Bertie Ahern from the organisation.

Fianna Fail frontbench spokesman on Justice is Dara Calleary.

He says the report has serious implications for the party.

Don't they know he won it on the races?

[Catmalojin]

I'd love to see this lead to certain individuals being held accountable (preferably behind bars), but I think we all know the chances of that are slim.

Also, what's infuriating is all of these Fianna Fáilers worrying about the damage this report is going to have on the party. Again with the party, it's never about the country. Certainly, I'm not surprised that some members of the last government tried to 'undermine' the Tribunal - I'd have been more surprised if they hadn't.

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Representatives of Bertie Ahern keep saying he "was not found corrupt" - the media keeps saying "yeah - cause he lied through his teeth!"

Corruption allegations will be pursued by authorities


22/03/2012 - 12:18:16
The final report of the Mahon Tribunal will be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to determine if criminal proceedings are to be taken, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said.

The report makes a number of findings of corruption, including in relation to former minister and EU commissioner Padraig Flynn.

Speaking in the Dáil this morning Mr Gilmore said any findings of corruption would be pursued vigorously.

"Previous reports from this tribunal did make findings of corruption against individuals," he said.

"If there are similar findings in this report - and I have yet to study it - then yes, those findings will be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

"They will be referred to the Revenue Commissioners, to the Standards in Public Office… and I believe that they should be pursued vigorously by those authorities."

Read more: http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/g...#ixzz1pql6UzHE

1314 The Government is to refer the report to the Garda Commissioner, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Revenue Commissioners and to the Standards in Public Office Commission.
A statement from the Government said: "A three-day Dáil debate on the report will take place next week.
"The Government will consider the findings and recommendations next Tuesday."

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FF proposes expulsion of Ahern over Mahon report







Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin is to propose a motion to expel former taoiseach Bertie Ahern from the party following the publication of the final report of the Mahon tribunal.

Motions to expel Mr Ahern and former minister Padraig Flynn will be put before a special meeting of the party's national executive on Friday, March 31st.

Mr Ahern said tonight, however, he would "never accept" findings by the Mahon tribunal that he failed to give a "truthful account" of his finances and he said he will continue to examine ways to vindicate his name.

In its final report, the tribunal rejected much of the sworn evidence given to it by Mr Ahern and said that he failed to “truthfully account” for the source of lodgements made to his bank account. It did not make any finding of corruption against him.

The planning tribunal found Mr Ahern failed to account for over IR£165,000 which passed through bank accounts connected to him in the early and mid-1990s.

Mr Ahern said he had never in his life accepted a bribe or a corrupt payment.

In a statement, he said the tribunal had not made – nor could it make – a finding to support the "scurrilous and untrue allegation" that he had been given a corrupt payment by Cork-based developer Owen O'Callaghan or any of his companies.

He said the only reason that the tribunal was allowed to investigate him was "the entirely untrue and unworthy allegation that I had received money from Owen O'Callaghan".

"Without that allegation (which in truth was no more than rumour and gossip) it had no mandate at all to carry out a general inquiry into my finances and a trawl of my personal life."

"I am disappointed that the tribunal has said that I failed to give 'a truthful account', he said.

"That statement is unfair and inaccurate having regard to the evidence. It is one that I cannot and I will never accept and I will continue to examine ways in which to vindicate my name. I was honest with the tribunal and I gave it truthful evidence and I reject completely any suggestion that I did otherwise."

Mr Ahern said he was "incredulous" that the tribunal had rejected the evidence of a number of individuals, including friends who had loaned him money and whose evidence supported his.

"I find it extraordinary that the tribunal has also disregarded the expert evidence that was given to it on tax, accounting and banking matters which supported me. In particular, I believe that the notion that I got large sums of sterling and dollars is objectionable, inaccurate and without an iota of foundation," he added.

"Given the significance of the issue, this conclusion is all the more surprising because it has been arrived at without deploying the resources of a forensic accountant or an independent banking witness."

Senior Fianna Fáil party members met tonight to consider the findings of the Mahon tribunal report.

"Much of the explanation provided by Mr Ahern as to the source of the substantial funds identified and inquired into in the course of the tribunal’s public hearings was deemed by the tribunal to be untrue," the report found.

However, it says that because Mr Ahern did not give a true account as to the source of money lodged to his accounts, the tribunal has not been able to identify where the money came from. For this reason, it could not determine whether Mr Ahern had received corrupt payments from developer Owen O’Callaghan.

The Government is to refer the 3,270-page report to the Garda Commissioner, the Director of Public Proescutions, the Revenue Commissioners and to the Standards in Public Office Commission. A three-day Dáil debate on the report will take place next week.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the report exposes a "litany of unacceptable statements from the former taoiseach”.

A spokesman for Mr Ahern said: “Mr Bertie Ahern is reviewing the final report of the Mahon tribunal and will issue a statement in due course.”

The report says that while the tribunal was inquiring into matters relating to Mr Ahern in the 2007/08 period, it “came under sustained and virulent attack from a number of senior government ministers who questioned, inter alia, the legality of its inquiries as well as the integrity of its members”.

It added: "There appears little doubt that the objective of these extraordinary and unprecedented attacks on the tribunal was to undermine the efficient conduct of the tribunal’s inquiries, erode its independence and collapse its inquiry into that individual."

Regarding Fianna Fáil, the tribunal states that the concept of senior government figures and ministers seeking financial contributions from businessmen who were in turn lobbying government to support various commercial projects was entirely inappropriate, and represented "an abuse of political power and government authority".

Fianna Fáil environment spokesman Niall Collins this evening called on Minister for Environment Phil Hogan to reopen the independent inquiries into planning irregularities in five local authorities. The inquiries were shut down by Mr Hogan shortly after taking up office last year.

The tribunal found that former Fianna Fáil minister and EU commissioner Pádraig Flynn "wrongfully and corruptly sought a substantial donation" from developer Tom Gilmartin for the party. Having been paid IR£50,000 by Mr Gilmartin for that purpose, Mr Flynn proceeded to "utilise the money for his personal benefit", the report states. Part of the IR£50,000 was used to buy a farm in Cloonanass, Co Mayo, in the name of Mr Flynn's wife Dorothy, the report said.

The report says Mr Gilmartin was acting under duress or had been coerced into make the donation and that he felt he had no choice in order to stop elected representatives obstructing his plan for a major shopping centre in west Dublin, now known as Liffey Valley and as Quarryvale in the late 1980s.

The tribunal found Mr O’Callaghan personally made or authorised corrupt payments totalling almost £120,000 to politicians for their support.

The tribunal did not accept the Cork-based developer was unaware of the “corrupt” activity of former Fianna Fáil lobbyist Frank Dunlop in paying councillors to support the rezoning of his development at Quarryvale. It said he also paid the late Liam Lawlor, who was a Dublin TD and a councillor, IR£41,000 between 1991 and 1996.

In a statement this afternoon, Mr O’Callaghan said he “utterly” rejects the findings of tribunal and intends to seek their judicial review in the High Court.

The tribunal found Lawlor, who died in a car crash in Moscow in 2005, abused his role as an elected public representative to a "very significant degree."

It said Mr Lawlor, while an elected public representative, "conducted a personal business in the course of which he corruptly sold his expertise, knowledge and influence as a councillor and as a TD for personal financial reward". It said his "demands for payments, and his acceptance of money in these circumstances were enitrely inappropriate and were corrupt”.

The tribunal said it was satisfied that complaints made to the Garda by Mr Gilmartin during a 1989 corruption investigation about

Lawlor, former assistant county manager George Redmond and Cllr Finbarr Hanrahan were not “thoroughly investigated”.

The tribunal said it was satisfied that a call to Mr Gilmartin from a person who identified himself as “Garda Burns” were designed to intimidate and warn him off the path he had embarked on in making complaints about planning practices.

Mr Lawlor’s position as a TD was a likely reason why he was not interviewed by the Garda, the tribunal said, but it added that it was puzzled as to why the Garda went to such lengths to exonerate Mr Lawlor and Mr Redmond.

The Mahon tribunal, the State’s longest running corruption inquiry, was established 15 years ago and has costs estimated at over €250 million. It has held 917 days of public hearings with 400 witnesses.

It was set up by Mr Ahern’s Fianna Fáil government in 1997 to investigate allegations of corruption.

The inquiry was originally sparked by cash for votes accusations in Dublin councils in the early 1990s. Allegations centred on the bribing of councillors for the re-zoning of large swathes of land around the capital from low value greenfield to lucrative commercial or residential sites.

www.irishtimes.com

[JD47]

If it was up to me I would put Bertie boy behind bars. He is everything that's wrong with this country today.

[Catmalojin]

Bertie Ahern resigns from Fianna Fáil
Updated: 21:16, Saturday, 24 March 2012

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has announced that he is resigning from Fianna Fáil - just days before the party's National Executive meets to consider expelling him.

In an article written for tomorrow's Sunday Independent newspaper, Mr Ahern said the tabling of a motion to expel him "deeply saddened" him.

Current party leader Micheál Martin announced he was to propose the motion on Thursday, after the publication of the final report of the Mahon Tribunal.

In his article, Mr Ahern said the last thing he wanted to do was to be a source of political division in the party, which is why he decided to tender his resignation.

He stresses that this is a political decision, and not in any way an admission of wrongdoing.

The article reiterates his rejection of the Tribunal's findings, and confirms he is considering options for vindicating his good name.

Story from RTÉ News:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0324/mahon.html

What an utter coward; deluded as well - his 'good name'?

[JD47]

What an utter twat. He needs to grow some balls.