A CLARE Fianna Fail councillor, Mr Enda Mulkere, on trial in relation to an alleged £400,000 fraud at Shannon Development, told the jury he had hoped his party would nominate him for the 1992 general election.
In 1991 Mr Mulkere sought help from contractors Jack McCarthy and Thomas Madden as friends he could trust when he was in financial difficulties. The First National Building Society had threatened to repossess the family home.
Mr Mulkere (48), of Carrownacloughy, Crusheen, Co Clare, was giving evidence as the defence case opened on the seventh day of his trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. He denies 16 charges of committing fraud on dates from October 1991 to June 1992, while he was an executive at SFADCo.
Replying to Mr Peter Charleton SC, defending, Mr Mulkere said his post in the industrial promotion section of SFADCo entailed a lot of travel to attract industry to Shannon.
He also had a 39-acre dairy and beef farm. Due to bovine TB and his SFADCo travels his farm was neglected. When he went to restock it prices were high and they fell at selling time.
Mr Mulkere was also refurbishing the family home around 1989 when interest rates went up. He was in debt by mid-1991 to the Bank of Ireland, ACC bank and the FNBS. His credit-rating was low and lending institutions would not restructure his payments.
He then went to Mr McCarthy and Mr Madden for help. He felt, be could repay loans and still have money left over by the end of 1992 when he hoped to have taken early retirement from SFADCo and also got his pension contributions back.
Asked by Mr Charleton what his hopes for retirement were, Mr Mulkere replied: "There was a forthcoming general election and not to flatter myself there were intimations I would be nominated, as a candidate for the Dail."
The defendant claimed Mr McCarthy undertook to lodge £10,739 in the FNBS account, £8,001 of which was to cover arrears and the £2,739 balance to cover repayments to the end of January 1992.
Asked by Mr Charleton why the cheque was made payable to cash, Mr Mulkere said he presumed it wash because Mr McCarthy did not wish to identify him. Mr Mulkere said there was definitely no mention of subcontractors in his dealings with Mr McCarthy on the matter of cheques.
Earlier, towards the close of the prosecution case, the jury heard that a letter from a consulting engineer with details of a final account on a project carried out by McCarthys was not seen by the relevant Shannon Development executives.
Mr Gerry Gardiner, whose function included ensuring that the consultants' certificates and contractors' invoices matched said he would have queried the item "add-on site works directed by Enda Mulkere" if the letter had been with the other documents when he processed them.
Two of the charges against Mr Mulkere allege he obtained cheques from McCarthy Bros (Ennis); 10 charges allege he got cheques from Madden Pipelines and Madden Planthire; and the remaining four charges that he caused sums, or attempted to cause sums, to be paid to these contractors by SFADCo by falsely pretending the entirety of the monies was lawfully due to them.
The hearing continues before Judge Kevin Haugh.