Auctioneer says he knew nothing of £10,000 for Ray Burke

The auctioneer Mr John Finnegan has said he never had "anything to do" with the former politician, Mr Ray Burke. Mr Finnegan told the tribunal yesterday he had never paid any sum of £10,000 to Fianna Fβil or Ray Burke, as claimed by the builders Brennan and McGowan. He never had a conversation with the two builders about Mr Burke and he was never involved in any way in fund-raising for Mr Burke. Neither had his offshore company ever paid money to Mr Burke.

Mr Burke was paid £60,000 by Canio, a company controlled by Brennan and McGowan and Mr Finnegan, in 1984. Some £10,000 of this came from Mr Finnegan but the auctioneer says he was "kept in the dark" about his contribution.

Mr Justice Flood said he found it "strange, to put it mildly" that Mr Finnegan had never sought an account of how the £10,000 deducted from his money in Jersey had been disbursed.

"Money must have been very plentiful then if you could simply forget a sum of £10,000," he remarked. Mr Finnegan said he believed the money was spent on fees for engineers and architects.

Mr Pat Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, said if Mr Finnegan was right in asserting that the £10,000 was deducted for architects' fees, that meant that Mr Laurence Wheeler, the solicitor administering the money in Jersey, had engaged in a deliberate deceit or fraud or theft by misleading Mr Finnegan about the true purpose of the deduction.

"Absolutely," he replied.

Mr Hanratty said if the chairman accepted that Mr Finnegan did not know the money was going to Mr Burke, he would be driven to the conclusion that Mr Wheeler had acted in a "profoundly dishonest way". Mr Finnegan replied: "Yes, sir, it concerned me that this happened and if it had not, I would not be here today."

Mr Finnegan said he was certain Mr McGowan did not tell him the money was a political donation. "I reluctantly agreed to the £10,000 being deducted but there certainly was never a question of it being for Fianna Fβil," he said. It came as "a great surprise" to him that the donation to Mr Burke had been made out of Canio.

He also said he knew nothing about the existence of Caviar Ltd, Mr Burke's offshore company.

Mr Finnegan said he never made any donations to Fianna Fβil of the scale of the £10,000 deducted from his funds by Brennan and McGowan. He had made contributions at normal fund-raising events, for example by paying for tables at party functions.

After four weeks in the witness box, he has completed his direct evidence; his cross-examination is expected to conclude tomorrow.