O'Callaghan accuses AIBof 'slanting' internal memos

CORK DEVELOPER Owen O'Callaghan has accused Allied Irish Bank of having "slanted" internal bank memos relating to the Quarryvale and national sports stadium developments.

Mr O'Callaghan told the Mahon tribunal he did discuss expenses related to the projects with his former business partner, Luton-based developer Tom Gilmartin. He said AIB official Michael O'Farrell did not record him saying so as "it suited him" to omit it.

The planning tribunal is questioning Mr O'Callaghan as part of the Quarryvale II module, an investigation into allegations of corruption surrounding the rezoning of land on which the Liffey Valley shopping centre is built.

Counsel for the tribunal Patricia Dillon SC read into the record a memo by Mr O'Farrell in September 1992, three months before a crucial vote on the Quarryvale development. The memo outlined fees outstanding for both the Quarryvale and the national stadium projects in west Dublin.

Mr O'Farrell noted that fees outstanding for the stadium had not been discussed because Mr Gilmartin "knew nothing about the stadium".

"I don't agree with that at all . . . ," Mr O'Callaghan said, adding that "of course" he had told Mr Gilmartin what was going on.

Mr O'Callaghan said he told Mr O'Farrell that Mr Gilmartin knew about the stadium expenses.

Ms Dillon asked why he thought Mr O'Farrell omitted that information from his "meticulous record".

"A lot of Mr O'Farrell's memos . . . are all slanted to suit what Michael O'Farrell wanted to say," he said.

The memo said Mr O'Callaghan included £33,000 in fees, due to lobbyist Frank Dunlop, as requiring priority. Mr O'Callaghan said Mr Dunlop's fees were more important than architects' fees as it was vital to keep lobbying councillors before the rezoning vote, in December 1992. If they had stopped lobbying they could have lost councillors to a development at Blanchardstown, he added.

The tribunal heard that in October 1992, the late Tom Hand, Fine Gael councillor, went to a meeting with Mr O'Callaghan.

Mr O'Callaghan said Mr Hand asked him for £250,000 for supporting Quarryvale and said he had been offered £100,000 by rival Blanchardstown developer, Green Property.

Ms Dillon asked why he did not go public with Green Property's alleged attempt at bribery. Mr O'Callaghan said this would have been outrageous.