Lawlor tried to 'distance himself from Czech firm'

The former Fianna Fail TD Mr Liam Lawlor attempted to distance himself from ownership of a Czech property company so that he would not have to comply with disclosure orders from the Mahon tribunal, it was suggested during a fractious hearing today.

The allegation from one of the three sitting judges at the tribunal, Judge Gerald Keys, followed an examination of inconsistencies between an affidavit sworn to the tribunal in July 2001 detailing Mr Lowlor's financial affairs and recent evidence to the tribunal.

In his affidavit Mr Lawlor said the Prague-based Zetecha 14 was "a non-Irish registered company which has been incorporated by the Morgan Trust".

This assertion was disputed yesterday by evidence from Mr Lawlor's London-based solicitor Mr Tony Seddon who said he incorporated the company on Mr Lawlor's instruction.

Judge Keys suggested that Mr Lawlor intended to portray Zetecha 14 as a separate entity in his affidavit so it wouldn't have to respond to the orders of the tribunal.

Mr Lawlor said that Zetecha 14 was incorporated by lawyers, not by him.

But if that was the truth, said counsel for the tribunal, Mr Des O'Neill SC, then Mr Lawlor's affidavit was incorrect.

Again asked why he wrote an affidavit ascribing the incorporation of the company to the Morgan Trust, Mr Lawlor said the instruction was given to his lawyer, Mr Seddon "after considered discussions with Mr Nicholas Morgan".

Judge Keys then put it to Mr Lawlor that he had distanced himself from Zatecha.

"Rubbish", retorted Mr Lawlor.

He also rejected a suggestion from Judge Keys that his explanation surrounding the incorporation of the Zatecha company "has been less than truthful".

A second inconsistency concerned Mr Lawlor's assertion in the affidavit that as of July 2001 "no profits have been generated by me from Czech Republic transactions".

This contrasts with evidence provided to the tribunal by Mr Seddon that the Zatecha company generated profits of close to £1 million sterling. Mr O'Neill asked Mr Lawlor how his affidavit could be correct when he had £1million in the Zatecha account and was entitled to 75 per cent share.

Mr Lawlor replied this money was a loan from the company which would have to be repaid. He added he would have to pay fees, expenses and provide for tax liabilities before any profits could be calculated.

"What tax liabilities", quipped the chairman of the tribunal Judge Alan Mahon. "It is clear tax liabilities weren't a big feature for you at the time."

The third serious inconsistency probed concerned the level of control exercised over Zatecha 14 by Mr Lawlor. In his statement of 2001 Mr Lawlor said: "As I do not have any shareholding in the company I have no control over its direction".

However, following the evidence of Mr Seddon it now appeared the "direction of the company was at all times exclusively yours" said Mr O'Neill. The tribunal heard yesterday from Mr Seddon that Mr Lawlor exercised exclusive control of Zatecha.

Mr Lawlor claimed the directors of the company could choose to make decisions if they wanted to.

But Judge Mahon put it to Mr Lawlor when he had said "under oath that he had no control it was quite wrong" and to suggest otherwise was "nonsense".

Mr Lawlor in robust exchanges with Mr O'Neill went on to describe his line of questioning as "creations of smoke and mirrors"

Mr Lawlor is facing possible perjury charges over his "contradictory" evidence to the tribunal. A decision to send Mr Lawlor to the High Court was deferred by Judge Mahon last month after Mr Lawlor produced 11,000 documents hours before a discovery order expired.

The alleged discrepancies relate to Mr Lawlor's evidence about a £100,000 sterling under-the-counter payment following the sale of one acre of land in Lucan. Earlier this week the tribunal heard that that this payment was given as a blank cheque to Mr Seddon who wrote 'Seddon's Solicitors client account' on the cheque at Mr Lawlor's instruction.

Mr Lawlor returns to the witness box at 10.30 a.m. next Tuesday.