THE SUPPORTING CAST: DAVID AUSTIN:Payment for Austin's 'consultancy' invoice led to O'Brien's affairs coming under scrutiny
THE LATE David Austin was a senior executive of the Smurfit group and friend of the businessman Michael Smurfit.
He was also a supporter and fundraiser for Fine Gael who became friendly with Lowry when he rose to prominence in that party in the mid-1990s. It was a $50,000 payment to Fine Gael organised by Denis O’Brien and which originated with Telenor in Norway, that led to O’Brien’s affairs becoming the focus of public inquiries by the Moriarty tribunal.
The payment, intended as a political donation, was made after Austin submitted an invoice to Telenor for “consultancy services”.
The payment was made to Austin, who was known to O’Brien and who at the time was not residing in Ireland. The money was placed by Austin in an account in Jersey. When then party leader John Bruton indicated he did not want the money, Austin held on to it and later gave it to the party in his own name.
The payment to Fine Gael came at a time when Lowry was chairman of the party’s board of trustees, and the minister overseeing the issuing of the State’s second mobile phone licence, then under way. It was not revealed by any of the parties involved to the tribunal but was first disclosed in the Sunday Tribune. Austin also featured in another payment examined by the tribunal. This was a £150,000 payment that went from a Denis O’Brien account in the Isle of Man to an Austin account in Jersey opened to receive it and from there to a Lowry account in the Isle of Man.
O’Brien said the payment was for a house in Spain he was buying from Austin. Lowry said the money was a loan from Austin he intended using to do up a house he was buying in Blackrock.
He told the tribunal he asked Austin for the loan so he would not have to bring money he’d hidden offshore from the Revenue back onshore, as he feared the Revenue might notice it. Lowry told the tribunal this conversation occurred in Dublin during his period as a minister. The money was returned to Austin by Lowry on the day in February 1997 that the McCracken tribunal was set up.
Austin was chairman of the John Jefferson Smurfit Foundation charity. At the time of his death in November 1998, Michael Smurfit said: “David has been one of my closest friends and business colleagues for almost 30 years. I am devastated by his death and extend my deep sympathy to his wife Mo and family, both personally and on behalf of the board and his many friends in the group.”
David Austin made a payment of £IR147,000, on behalf of Denis O'Brien via a series of offshore accounts to Michael Lowry’s Isle of Man Irish Nationwide account.
Report describes “covert route” by which $50,000 was transferred by Telenor to an offshore account of Mr Austin’s, which was then transferred to Fine Gael.
KEY FINDINGS: WHAT REPORT SAYS
David Austin made a payment of £IR147,000, on behalf of Denis O'Brien via a series of offshore accounts to Michael Lowry’s Isle of Man Irish Nationwide account.
Report describes “covert route” by which $50,000 was transferred by Telenor to an offshore account of Mr Austin’s, which was then transferred to Fine Gael.