Finnegan wrote false letters in land deal

The auctioneer Mr John Finnegan has admitted writing false letters in a land deal undertaken with builders Brennan and McGowan in 1980.

Mr Finnegan said the correspondence was "orchestrated" as part of a complex scheme devised around the sale of a property on St Stephen's Green by Brennan and McGowan. "I was asked to sign the letter," he explained.

Asked who had asked him to sign the correspondence, the witness identified Mr Hugh Owens, Brennan and McGowan's accountant.

"Why didn't you tell him what to do with his letter," asked Mr Pat Hanratty SC, for the tribunal.

"I should have," Mr Finnegan replied. "I am a lot wiser now."

Mr Hanratty said the letters suggested Mr Finnegan acted as the buying agent for the Gallagher Group in the transaction, when he also shared with Brennan and McGowan in the proceeds of the sale.

This has also been the evidence of Mr McGowan, who has given evidence that he met the Gallagher Group together with Mr Finnegan. Was the witness now saying that the Gallagher Group was not his client, counsel asked.

Mr Finnegan said he had not acted for the Gallagher Group in the transaction. Mr McGowan's statement was not true.

Counsel suggested the correspondence was a charade. Was it trying to fool the Revenue Commissioners, he asked. Why had Mr Finnegan put his professional reputation on the line?

Mr Finnegan said he didn't know. "There wasn't anything in it for myself," he insisted.

Mr Finnegan's evidence also contradicted that of Brennan and McGowan on another important point. The auctioneer says he did invest in a number of land deals in which he collaborated with the two builders. Brennan and McGowan have given evidence that Mr Finnegan did not put in any money into the deals, out of which he was paid over £600,000 offshore.

Mr Finnegan said he was asked to participate in the scheme drawn up by Mr Owens, which "front-loaded" the profits anticipated on future building on the lands.

In the first such deal, involving the land of the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Monkstown, he said he invested £33,333. Mr Finnegan, who had acted for the nuns in selling the freehold, later received over £100,000 to his account in Jersey. Brennan and McGowan received similar amounts.

Mr Hanratty asked repeatedly for an explanation of the £100,000 payment before concluding that he had heard no "comprehensible explanation" from the witness.

Mr Finnegan has supplied the tribunal with a number of bank transaction sheets in support of his claim that he did invest in the land deals with Brennan and McGowan. These sheets, which are virtually the only financial documents he had submitted, then became the focus of questioning.

The witness agreed that the account he held with Guinness and Mahon Bank in Dublin was a non-resident account. He said he "didn't know" if this account was an Ansbacher account.

Mr Hanratty referred to a bank account statement furnished by the witness which referred to a "non-resident call deposit account". He said this appeared to be a mirror account in Dublin of an account that was actually held with Guinness and Mahon in Guernsey.

Mr Finnegan agreed this appeared to be the case.

The accountant who set up Guinness and Mahon's activities in Guernsey, Mr Des Traynor, also set up a trust fund for Mr Finnegan in Guernsey. Yesterday, the tribunal heard that Mr Traynor's estate does not hold any documents relating to Mr Finnegan's trust.