Almost #100,000 banked by ex-FG councillor

Mahon tribunal: Former Fine Gael councillor Tom Hand banked almost £100,000 in unexplained funds in a single seven-month period in the 1990s, tribunal lawyers have revealed.

The late Mr Hand, who faces multiple allegations of corruption, lodged £83,000 to his accounts between November 1992 and April 1993, according to Patricia Dillon SC, for the tribunal.

He also gave his daughter Ann £15,040 to lodge to her accounts between March and June 1993.

Mr Hand was not working at the time, having retired from his job in CIÉ in the mid-1980s. He died in 1996.

Ms Dillon said that no explanation had been given for these lodgments. The money had not come from any bank account of which the tribunal was aware.

Cormac Ó Dulacháin SC, for Mr Hand's family and estate, said a full analysis of Mr Hand's bank accounts was needed. His client had significant cash funds for many years before the period the tribunal was examining.

Mr Ó Dulacháin accused the inquiry of dressing up Mr Hand's accounts in a piecemeal fashion to give the impression of a huge inflow of funds.

Ms Dillon said that she could do a full financial analysis, but she was not sure Mr Ó Dulacháin would like her to do it.

In the current module, lobbyist Frank Dunlop says that he gave Mr Hand a £2,000 bribe in November 1992 for his support for the rezoning of land at Ballycullen in south Dublin. The landowner, Christopher Jones, and his companies gave Mr Hand a further £2,000 in political donations around this time.

According to Ms Dillon, Mr Hand lodged £22,000 to an account on November 2nd, 1992. A day later, he lodged a further £3,000, and on November 16th he made a lodgment of £10,000. In January 1993, he lodged £10,000 and the following month another £10,000. Further lodgments of £15,740 and £12,260 followed in March and April 1993.

He also gave his daughter Ann £5,000 to buy An Post savings certificates in February 1993, £5,040 in April that year and £5,000 in June. Ms Dillon said that the tribunal did not know the source of these funds either.

While Mr Hand's lawyers told the tribunal that they do not know where the money came from, they pointed to his practice of opening and closing accounts to obtain the best short-term interest rates.

However, Ms Dillon said that the tribunal had failed to correlate these lodgments with any withdrawals from Mr Hand's accounts.

The tribunal also called three of Mr Hand's children to give evidence about lodgments to their accounts at this time.

Noel Hand told the inquiry that three lodgments totalling £2,308 represented salary and commission he had received. Dolores Hand said lodgments totalling £1,050 were presents from relatives. Tom Hand jnr said lodgments totalling £1,400 represented expenses and commission payments.