Solicitor claims he was told to lose Burke file

A solicitor has told the tribunal he was told to "bury or lose" a land file relating to Mr Ray Burke shortly after the first newspaper allegation linking the politician to payments from the builder Brennan and McGowan appeared.

In what he described as "the most extraordinary phone call I have ever received in 32 years of practice," Mr Esmonde Reilly said he was contacted by Mr Burke's solicitor, Mr Oliver Conlon, several weeks after the allegation appeared in the Sunday Independent in 1974.

Several months earlier Mr Reilly had handled the sale of an acre of land to Mr Burke in Swords, Co Dublin, on behalf of Oak Park Developments, which was part-owned by Mr Tom Brennan.

In what he described as `'a very abnormal transaction", Mr Reilly told the tribunal yesterday he was almost certain no deposit was paid and that the balance was not paid to him in the normal manner.

Mr Conlon, who acted for Mr Burke in the transaction, rang Mr Reilly and referred to the newspaper article, the witness said. He asked Mr Reilly to bury or lose his conveyance file for the sale.

Later yesterday Mr Conlon denied the allegation, saying he had never spoken to Mr Reilly. `'I don't make phone calls like that. I take very strong exception to anything saying that I did. I had no reason to do it."

In his evidence, Mr Reilly said he was not surprised to receive the call. He had "a fair idea" that there might be a connection between the conveyance and the article.

Afterwards, he put the file in a sealed brown envelope, marked it for his own attention only and placed it in a secure filing cabinet.

"I put it there lest I be contacted by a Garda investigation," Mr Reilly said. He was not contacted by the Garda and had not seen the file since.

Mr Thomas Montgomery, solicitor, for Mr Conlon, said the witness had made no note of his conversation with Mr Conlon, as was normal for solicitors to do.

Mr Reilly said Mr Conlon wanted no trace of the file, and a memo would have defeated this purpose. "I didn't object. He asked me to put it away and I did." He didn't report the matter "to any living soul".

"I knew the information I had was relevant, but I chose not to say anything about it because I chose not to get involved. I didn't want to have to say the things I have said about a colleague here today."

Asked about Mr Conlon's denial that he ever rang him, Mr Reilly remarked: "His recollection is flawed."

Asked if he knew anything about the building of a house for Mr Burke by Oak Park Developments, he said he did not. "I had no connection with that. I became aware that a house was built. All I can tell you was that the local rumour was that Oak Park built it for nothing."

Mr Reilly said that in 1973 he was carrying out the legal work on the sale of houses by Oak Park in Swords. His instructions for house sales came from Mr Burke's estate agency, P.J. Burke Sales Ltd.

In 1972 Oak Park paid £7,000 for the site that was eventually sold. In the following year Mr Reilly got instructions from Mr M.J. Foley, a director of Oak Park, to sell the site to Mr Burke. The contract stipulated a purchase price of £7,500 with a deposit of £1,875. When the signed contracts were returned, no deposit cheque was enclosed.

Mr Foley told him that the balance due would not be paid at closing. "I accepted that. As far as I was concerned, that was the end of the matter."

Mr Conlon told the tribunal that he spoke to Mr Burke at the time about the 1974 newspaper allegation.

Mr Burke had told him the reference to a planning payment to him was a mistake. The amount related to an auctioneer's fee. The accountant who prepared the document was under the mistaken impression that Mr Burke was an architect.