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Post by Admin on Mar 18, 2014 20:54:41 GMT
LESS than three decades after Soviet tanks rolled into Wenceslas Square in Prague, Liam Lawlor, via one of his numerous "consultancies" and a group of prominent Irish businessmen, mounted a potentially lucrative invasion of the Czech capital.
Ambrose Kelly International (Eastern Europe) Ltd had high hopes for Prague and the Czech Republic as 10 million people rushed headlong into western-style consumerism and the free market after what became known as the "Velvet Revolution". The shareholders of Ambrose Kelly (Eastern Europe) may have been unknown in Prague but they enjoyed connections at the highest level in business and politics at home in Ireland.
It was Ambrose Kelly (Eastern Europe) which, according to Mr Liam Lawlor's less-than-direct evidence to the Flood tribunal, provided funds to the Irish Consortium, a business entity in the Czech Republic.
The Irish Consortium was merely a registered name and Mr Lawlor says he was never a director. Yet he was in line for one-third of the profits of any development projects completed in the Czech Republic, projects which have yet to bear fruit.
But the Irish Consortium needed substantial cash flow to fund Mr Lawlor's 25 to 30 visits to Prague, run an office there and pay the expenses of Mr Lawlor and Conor McElliott, an architect based in Prague during the early Nineties who died a few years ago.
That money, according to Mr Lawlor, came via Ambrose Kelly (Eastern Europe).
Ambrose Kelly (Eastern Europe) appeared to be on to a good thing in getting involved in business in the Czech Republic. Ever since Denis O'Brien, the Esat multimillionaire, set up a radio station in Prague similar to his successful 98FM in Dublin, Irish businessmen have been drawn to the opportunities presented by the Republic.
The bustling capital is in the throes of major redevelopment; huge construction projects are underway and the streets are being dug up for e-businesses invading the historic quarters.
Prague is also one of the cheapest capital cities in Europe but the new wealth has meant that the 'new rich' drink Chateau Margaux in trendy bars while working men drink beer at 50p a half-litre in the bistro next door.
There has been such businesses between the two countries that Czech Airlines now operates direct flights six days a week to Prague. Last week they were nearly at full capacity, with a mix of businessmen and tourists in search of Christmas bargains and lucrative business deals.
Ambrose Kelly (Eastern Europe) was incorporated on September 26, 1991, with a list of shareholders with significant links at the highest levels of political life. Shareholders included Tim Collins, described in the Dáil by Bertie Ahern as "a friend" when the Taoiseach had to answer questions in relation to Tom Gilmartin, the Luton-based builder whose allegations are central to the Flood tribunal.
In fact, Mr Collins is much more than a friend to the Taoiseach; he has been a close political associate for many years and is a trustee of St Luke's, Mr Ahern's Drumcondra constituency office and former home.
Mr Ahern met Tom Gilmartin in October 1988 to discuss and display his plans for Bachelors Walk in Dublin in an upstairs -part of Fagan's pub where President Clinton enjoyed a sip of beer during his visit last week. Mr Collins was also at that arranged meeting with Gilmartin.
Three years later Mr Collins went to work for the Ambrose Kelly Group, architects to the Cork property developer Owen O'Callaghan.
Mr Collins held 18,000 shares valued at £1 each in Ambrose Kelly (Eastern Europe) Ltd.
Another shareholder (worth £10,000) was Frank Dunlop, former FF Press Secretary and the man who has already admitting making tens of thousands of pounds worth of payments to Liam Lawlor.
One of those payments from Mr Dunlop to Mr Lawlor was a cheque for £38,000 which Mr Lawlor cashed in a pub in Inchicore. Mr Dunlop visited Prague with Lawlor around 1994 because Mr Dunlop was thinking about setting up a PR consultancy. Mr Lawlor was able to engineer a meeting for them with the Czech Industry Minister.
Frank Dunlop was also heavily involved with Owen O'Callaghan's Quarryvale project.
Another shareholder of Ambrose Kelly (Eastern Europe) was Bernard McNamara, the former Fianna Fáil Councillor from Co Clare and a director of Michael McNamara and Company, Ireland's fifth-largest building contractor.
McNamara builders boasts an annual turnover of circa £100m and its list of completed projects shows it has successfully tendered for an array of prestigious public contracts, including extensions to Trinity College, the National Gallery and Dublin Airport.
The McNamara Group also won the contract to complete the new extension to Dáil Éireann.
Another prominent builder, Christopher Bennett of Christoper Bennett and Sons, was also a small shareholder in Ambrose Kelly (Eastern Europe).
Mr Bennett's company built the £100m Guild House office development in the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin's Docklands which was officially opened by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern.
The architect Ambrose Kelly had 50,001 shares in the company which bore his name. His firm designed the Quarryvale centre and Mr Justice Feargus Flood and the Tribunal lawyers have asked him to supply all documentation relating to that project, including work sheets and invoices. Mr Kelly is a prominent supporter of Fianna Fáil.
One of the smaller shareholders in Ambrose Kelly (Eastern Europe) is the builder Michael Holly who renovated, and later bought, the former Blackrock, Dublin home of ex-Fine Gael Minister Michael Lowry when Mr Lowry ran into trouble.
When Mr Lowry wanted to buy a house in Carysfort Avenue it was Michael Holly who helped him out with a £20,000 deposit at the auction. Later when Mr Lowry decided to offload the Dublin property he conducted a private sale with Mr Holly. Mr Lowry says he decided on a private sale rather than auction because he didn't want to see banner headlines, 'Lowry Sells His House.'
Liam Walls, Chief Executive of PJ Walls Holdings Limited, which has an annual turnover of £60m had a minor shareholding in Ambrose Kelly, worth £5,000.
The other shareholders are: John Bennett of Lynn Road, Mullingar, Co Westmeath; Michael J Kenny, Grange Road, Clonsilla, Dublin; Michael J Lyons, Leeson Park, Dublin; Patrick McHugh, St John's, Trim, Co Meath; Thomas Noonan and Olive Noonan, Glenageary Road, Dunlaoghaire; Eugene O' Callaghan, Athlone, Co Westmeath; Brendan O'Mara, Kilmacud Road, Stillorgan, Dublin and Ronald Petrie, Torquay Road Foxrock. The total investment in Ambrose Kelly (Eastern Europe), under the tax-efficient Business Expansion Scheme, totalled £255,000.
An Ambrose Kelly (Eastern Europe) prospectus outlining the investment opportunities in Prague says the company maintained an office in Prague and did extensive market analysis.
"The Czech Republic with its 10 million population and strategic location between Germany and Austria makes it an ideal market for development in the provision of new retail outlets. We have established the need to respond to the consumer demands with the provision of supermarkets, drapery stores and related facilities," it states.
"As part of our research we have had contact with some of Europe's leading retailers who have development programmes for setting up nationwide retail outlets. There is particular interest from Austrian, French and German retailers and some leading US companies.
"Ambrose Kelly International (Eastern Europe) Ltd has established a network of contacts and are in negotiations with retailers," the prospectus went on.
Last week Liam Lawlor told the Flood tribunal he had two loans, over £600,000 advanced to him by a Jersey-registered company called Longwater Investments. These loans, drawn down by Mr Lawlor in 1995 and 1998, were paid by arrangement through a Liechtenstein Bank.
Mr Lawlor said the Irish Consortium was the entity he used in his dealings with Longwater Investments. According to Mr Lawlor's evidence, the Irish Consortium received funding from Ambrose Kelly (Eastern Europe).
So far only £30,000 of that £600,000 loan has been repaid by Mr Lawlor, a fact which astonished Mr Justice Feargus Flood who calculated that, with interest, the outstanding sum would now be well over £1m.
He asked Deputy Liam Lawlor: "Tell me this, just as a matter of interest: Do you know many people who lend money of £600,000 and who don't require the payment of interest or any repayment for periods in excess of six years and don't correspond with the debtor?"
As he faces the prospect of being jailed, amid the claims of £2.6m in "unexplained funds", that is just one of the questions which Mr Lawlor will have to answer in much more detail.
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Post by Admin on Mar 18, 2014 20:56:31 GMT
Lawlor sought to profit £2m from the sale of £4m Czech building Friday, September 19, 2003
FORMER Fianna Fáil TD Liam Lawlor was involved in a property deal in the Czech Republic three years ago in which he attempted to earn a £2m profit on a building worth just £4m.
The Planning Tribunal heard yesterday that a Czech company controlled by Mr Lawlor called Zatecka also attempted to disguise the ultimate profit on the deal of £835,000 as a loan agreement.
The inquiry was told Mr Lawlor tried to persuade leading Irish property developer Sean Mulryan to invest over £8.1m in buying a six-storey office building in a prime location in central Prague in early 2000.
English solicitor Tony Seddon who acted for Mr Lawlor in relation to the purchase of the Hybernska building by Mr Mulryan, admitted that the former Dáil deputy had "puffed up" values relating to the property. The £8.1m estimate was Mr Lawlor's opening bid which was "almost like an advertising puff," said the solicitor.
Mr Seddon acknowledged that a note referring to a "£2m uplift" in Zatecka documents related to the target profit Mr Lawlor had hoped to obtain from the deal. However, Mr Mulryan who owns the leading Irish building firm, Ballymore Homes, was concerned the £8.1m asking price did not represent the true market value of the Hybernska property. Having obtained an independent valuation on the building, Mr Mulryan eventually paid just over £3.5m to acquire the property less than half the original value placed on it by Mr Lawlor.
The tribunal has heard that, although Mr Lawlor was neither a director or shareholder of the company, he effectively controlled Zatecka.
Although tribunal lawyers suggested the former TD had instructed Mr Seddon to delete all references to his name from a document about the company, Mr Lawlor strongly disputed the fact. In reply, Mr Seddon believed he would have discussed the matter with his client. However, the solicitor was sharply criticised by members of the tribunal over his role in describing £835,000 which Zatecka received from the Hybernska deal as "loan agreements" in the company's accounts.
Questioned by Judge Gerald Keys, Mr Seddon said he could not recall receiving any instructions to treat the payments as a loan agreement. He did not believe he had discussed the matter with Mr Lawlor. However, on that basis, Judge Keys said it appeared that Mr Seddon had made a decision for the company without consulting any of the owners of Zatecka which raised questions about professional standards. The solicitor replied that he didn't believe the issue touched on his professional duties.
In a written statement, Mr Seddon said Mr Lawlor's role in relation to the Hybernska building was "not simply a negotiating agent." "His style was to drive the matter forward as if he were a principal in the transaction."
Asked about the fact that Mr Lawlor had used his legal firm's stationery to issue a false invoice, Mr Seddon remarked that the former TD had apologised to him for producing the document at someone else's request.
"While I appreciated the apology, there are some things you don't easily forgive," said the solicitor. Upon learning of the false invoice last July, Mr Seddon said he informed Mr Lawlor that he had to realise the issue would make a difference to their professional relationship. Mr Seddon disagreed with the suggestion by Mr Lawlor that it was always intended that a Jersey-based lawyer, Nicholas Morgan, would be the beneficial owner of Zatecka. Mr Seddon said he found the exact situation about ownership of the company unclear and confusing.
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Post by Admin on Mar 18, 2014 21:17:18 GMT
"During investigations into his corrupt lifestyle it emerged he had extensive business interests across the former Soviet bloc, particularly in Prague."
"Former associates said Lawlor had been afraid to testify against leading Dublin criminals he had been colluding with in laundering cash into property developments."
"t has since emerged that one of the reasons Lawlor preferred imprisonment in Dublin's notorious Mountjoy jail was that he feared naming a number of business associates in the city's criminal underworld. Lawlor was suspected of recycling cash for criminals into property across western Dublin and latterly into eastern Europe"
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Post by Admin on Mar 18, 2014 21:18:17 GMT
The life and times of Liam Lawlor: a story of modern Ireland. He had 110 bank accounts. He was jailed three times. A judge once called him a disgrace.
"Liam Lawlor used to breeze into the Dail like he was his own dual carriageway," a veteran Dublin political journalist reminisced. "He was a big man - big presence, burly, with the coat flapping.
"He was a wide-boy, not particularly clever. He'd always know your name. He knew everybody, it was always hail fellow well met. But he was a bad guy."
Now the death of Lawlor, who was jailed three times in relation to corruption, has characteristically been touched with dispute. He died outside Moscow on Saturday when the Mercedes in which he was travelling hit a street light.
Yesterday his family protested against media reports that a woman injured in the incident was a prostitute, saying it was "deeply shocking and distressing that such hurtful allegations should be made in this way without checking their veracity."
It seems that Liam Lawlor's death may, like his life, be surrounded by controversy. The primary charge against him is that he helped bring the politics of the Irish Republic into disrepute by enthusiastically operating the culture of the backhander and the brown envelope stuffed with illicit cash.
The secondary charge is that he was so blatant and so brazen about it. He would be wafted to the Dail in a chauffeur-driven top-of-the-range Merc sporting an expensive suit and stylish overcoat. He was one of the first people to have a car-phone.
He spent large amounts of money in elections, and had political and business connections in many places. He exuded money, and did not seem to care that he also exuded a sense that it was fast-made unexplained money - a quick, dodgy buck.
His flash ways, and the fact that he lived in a fine house near the village of Lucan near Dublin, earned him the nickname of "Lord Lucan". This was a man with 110 bank accounts spread over many countries: eight of them in Lichtenstein.
Yesterday, the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, paid solemn tribute to Lawlor, in line with the Irish political custom of refusing to speak ill of the dead. "Liam was an engaging, witty and a larger than life character," the Irish prime minister said. "He was also a man with a keen intellect and strong views that he was never afraid to articulate trenchantly. He was extremely popular with his parliamentary colleagues across the political boards."
Yet, just three years ago, Mr Ahern was solemnly and publicly telling Lawlor in the Dail, the Irish parliament: "You have let politics down and your position is untenable."
This was on the remarkable occasion when Lawlor was temporarily released from Mountjoy jail and conveyed to the Dail in a prison van. This was so that he could mount a political defence: the judge warned him not to "disport" himself in the Dail's bars while he was out.
Reaching new heights of brazenness, he defiantly defended himself even as, unprecedentedly, the five main Irish party leaders stood up in turn and called on him to resign his seat. No vote was needed on the motion: it was unanimous, and afterwards Lawlor was whisked back to jail.
This political obloquy was matched by judicial condemnation. One judge who locked him up accused him of blatantly defying the law, declaring: "That he did so as a citizen is a disgrace; that he did so as a public representative is a scandal."
Sending a message which must have worried other political wrong-doers, the judge intoned: "No one is above the law - there are no untouchables." Irish voters can be forgiving of their politicians, even in cases when they regard them as suspect and less than trustworthy. But the disgrace and isolation which befell Lawlor was so complete no recovery was possible: he was briskly de-selected by Fianna Fail.
Ireland has had some senior politicians who have been both extremely corrupt and extremely skilful: two other Fianna Fail examples are Charles Haughey and the former foreign minister Ray Burke. Mr Haughey, who escaped prosecution, is nonetheless regarded as being in disgrace, having been exposed as lying by several tribunals. The tribunals caught up with Burke too earlier this year, when he was jailed for six months for tax evasion.
The three - Haughey, Lawlor and Burke - seem to have functioned as cash-hungry individuals rather than as a tight team. Lawlor, whose political judgement was often shaky, backed Mr Haughey but then broke with him. Mr Haughey never promoted him after that, dismissing him as "an Exocet missile without a guidance system". Nonetheless, Lawlor's dual membership of the Dail and of Dublin County Council was to prove most valuable to his financial fortunes.
Although the scale of wrong-doing which has since been exposed has shocked some, the fact that it existed had been pretty much an open secret for decades. A Haughey rival within Fianna Fail spoke publicly of "low standards in high places".
Corruption was touched on occasionally in the Irish media in the 1970s, but legal and other considerations discouraged full disclosure. There was, in any event, a popular sense that Haughey and others were go-getters who could get things done and modernise a once-sleepy Ireland.
And if they should cut a few corners and take a few short-cuts, it was regularly said, didn't they deserve a bit of reward if they were transforming the country, to the benefit of all? Thus, as they say, the dogs in the street knew about it: but the dogs did not bark, and most of them did not care.
One of the most obvious, straightforward and most profitable scams involving Lawlor centred on the expansion of Dublin, which was developing large new housing estates and shopping centres in the north and west of the city.
Builders and developers would buy up disregarded pieces of land, then apply for permission to build houses or shops there. Liam Lawlor, at the head of a caucus of councillors, would obligingly fix it so that the land was conveniently re-zoned.
The value of the land instantly increased dramatically and fortunes were made overnight. According to one estimate, the 5,000 acres which were re-zoned in one six-month period netted their owners some £200m in windfall profits.
The scam was not rocket science:, in fact it was extraordinarily simple. But Lawlor was blatant about the whole thing, not having the political sense even to try to conceal the obvious corruption. He did not trouble to observe the common decencies of corruption.
Businessmen would sit in the public gallery of Dublin County Council during meetings watching as Lawlor guided their applications through. Afterwards some of them and some councillors would repair to a nearby pub. There, it is presumed, cash-stuffed brown envelopes would surreptitiously change hands.
The amounts of money involved, however, became so large that few envelopes were large enough to hold the bigger bribes. Chapter and verse on this emerged a few years ago when a reluctant whistleblower emerged and, under heavy tribunal pressure, spilled the beans.
This was Frank Dunlop, a senior lobbyist who for years had been the government's press secretary and who had once boasted: "I have balls of iron and a spine of steel."
Under threat of heavy legal penalty, however, the metal buckled and Mr Dunlop came clean, revealing that business figures had supplied him with a "war-chest" containing hundreds of thousands of pounds to pay off councillors.
Lawlor's share at one point, Mr Dunlop testified, was almost £50,000, 40,000 of it in cash.
This was not a victimless crime, because it resulted in the building of thousands of new homes in vast characterless areas, often without proper planning, facilities or infrastructure.
The re-zoning scam was a steady source of income for Lawlor, but he expanded into "consultancy work" - it is said he once received £10,000 for a single day's work.
A builder, Seamus Ross, testified to a tribunal how Lawlor had regularly extracted money from him, repeatedly telling him about the "good turns" he had done for him.
The builder, who said he had handed over £25,000 in "political donations," said he was "very unhappy" about giving him money, saying he had planning applications in the system and was concerned that Lawlor might use his influence against these.
He explained: "He would leave you in no doubt that he had certain powers and would use them against you as well as for you. I was angry with Liam Lawlor. He was like a plague, always in your face, making himself friendly."
Again, the work of the tribunals brought such activities to light in damning detail. But, although Mr Dunlop caved in, Lawlor would not, maintaining his bluster and vainly professing his innocence long after his guilt was universally accepted.
When he was first locked up one newspaper called it "the day the swagger died and the brass neck vanished". But, in fact, if he was crestfallen it was only momentary: "You'd think he'd be mortified about going to jail," said one observer, "but in fact it was more like water off a duck's back."
Although his three jail spells ended his political career, his business enterprises continued in Ireland and abroad. Travellers reported sightings of him breezing around Hungary and other countries. But while his experience of the tribunal system, and indeed of prison, may not have changed his fundamental character, he has certainly helped change the system itself.
The work of a range of tribunals has exposed Lawlor, Haughey, Burke and others, and has recouped more than €30m (£20m) for the exchequer. But it has taken years and the cost has been immense, generating much public disillusion about the whole exercise.
Dealing with miscreants such as Lawlor has cost Ireland more money than he ever extracted in bribes, sweeteners and backhanders. Most of the public and most of the politicians are weary of the whole process and want to see it curtailed, as quickly as possible. The government has taken steps to do so, but even so it will all drag on for years yet.
The irony in all of this is that Ireland today is run by a government headed by Fianna Fail, some of whose one-time leading members were up to their neck in the corruption.
Yet Bertie Ahern has successfully won election after election, being universally viewed as free from his party's previous bad old habits. Through all of this, Fianna Fail has remained Ireland's largest party.
Voters seem to have concluded that Bertie Ahern has successfully put an end to the era of the brown envelope. Their judgement appears to be that the corruption issue should now be laid to rest, as a piece of history rather than the stuff of today's politics.
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Post by Admin on Mar 18, 2014 21:22:54 GMT
Lenihan had looted the Irish treasury to bail out Anglo Irish Bank a collapsed gangster bank on behalf of the Russian mafia who were systematically burglarising Anglo through corruptly obtained loans furnished by their accomplices in Anglo management Sean Fitzpatrick and David Drumm, and through Anglo's 25 percent shareholder Sean Quinn and his odious rackateering IRA family who were themselves the recipients and conduits of corruptly obtained multi billion dollar loans from Anglo which the Russians bagged and laundered with gay abandon.
Sean Quinn bought his 25 percent of Anglo using yet more billions of dollars corruptly lent to him without security by Sean Fitzpatrick and David Drumm from the bank all three and their families and their accomplices and the Russian mafia and their cat Tiddles were systematically burglarising through the dispensing to themselves of precisely such invidious loans. Most of the billions lent to Sean Quinn were laundered through the same Russian mafia.
Anyone remember Former Prime Minister Albert Reynolds' receipt of million dollar bribes from Muslim terrorists in return for Irish passports?
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Post by Admin on Mar 18, 2014 21:32:14 GMT
1998
THE passports-for-sale scheme was the centre of a political storm again last night after it emerged how a foreign fraudster bought Irish citizenship.
A Czech man, wanted by the FBI for being a KGB agent, is travelling the world as an Irishman after he paid a pounds 1million to buy his way into the country.
Thirty-four-year-old Viktor Kozeny cheated thousands of his countrymen out of an estimated pounds 1billion pounds before he applied to the Irish Justice Department for a passport.
An RTE investigation has lifted the lid off the controversial scheme which granted a "secret millionaires" club the right to become Irish citizens.
Primetime revealed that the billionaire was wanted by the FBI and under investigation by the police in eastern Europe when he became an Irishman.
And now he has set up business in Azerbaijan and it is feared he will pull off the same fraud on the country's citizens.
The fraudster now moves around freely in Europe under the protection of the tricolour and has managed to dodge the authorities who are hunting him.
The super-rich con man persuaded Czech people to sell him their state shares which were handed over to them when after the fall of communism fell.
But Kozeny, who promised them a big profit, skipped the country after getting his pounds 1million ticket to Europe and left the investors almost penniless.
Many Czech people have lost their life savings while he lives a life of a movie star.
The flamboyant businessman bought Andrew Lloyd-Webber's London home for a staggering pounds 12million and flaunted his vast wealth by picking up the tab for a pounds 13,000 dinner for three.
The Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Pavel Rychetsky, last night criticised our government for handing Irish citizenship to the man convicted of unethical share dealings.
"I can't really approve of giving him an Irish passport. What Mr Kozeny did here - that's something no nation should want happening in their country.
"That's why we should all band together because that's our form of defence so these people cannot move freely from country to country.
"I'm almost certain that Viktor Kozeny left this country and assumed Irish citizenship knowing he was in real danger of criminal prosecution."
This isn't the first time the exclusive pounds 1million passport scheme has come under the spotlight.
One hundred and fifty six passports for Irish citizenship were handed out since the scheme began four years ago.
Now four super-rich clients who bought membership of this country have been reported as major swindlers.
It was revealed that one Arab sheikh Khalad Sabih Masri was convicted in America of one of the biggest bank frauds the world has ever seen.
The Sheikh who was granted 11 passports for his family invested his pounds 1million pay out in the C&D pet food empire owned by former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.
Reynolds who was head of the country at the time said he had done nothing wrong and didn't comment further on the matter.
Former Justice Minister Nora Owen told Primetime there was stringent checks in place when Kozeny made his application.
"We got an assurance that people were not wanted by the law in the country where they live and that was the scheme as it operated.
"I thought it was satisfactory to seek such a police report and if a satisfactory report came back then you have to take that as being honest and fair."
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Post by Admin on Mar 18, 2014 21:37:56 GMT
Perhaps the most interesting story concerning the retirement of Albert Reynolds is his relationship with the President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf. In 1999 General Musharraf became President of Pakistan following a military coup. The White House at the time had a policy of not recognising governments that came to power through a coup d'état. Reynolds was asked by business associates to travel to Pakistan and meet with Musharraf. Musharraf then asked Reynolds to act as an advisor to him and to contact US President Bill Clinton to reassure the White House as to the intentions of the new government of Pakistan. Reynolds also claimed in interviews with Irish radio that because of the trust built up between himself and Musharraf he was later asked to arrange peace talks between India and Pakistan. These talks started in early 2001 but the September 11 attacks caused them to stall. After the attacks Musharraf could not get in contact with the White House. He called Reynolds, and Reynolds then called former US President Bill Clinton, who quickly contacted President George W. Bush to communicate the Pakistani position.
In November 2007, it was alleged at the Mahon Tribunal, that Reynolds, while on Government business in New York, collected a substantial sum of money for his Fianna Fáil party, that did not get fully credited to the party. On the same trip, it emerged in the tribunal that Reynolds had the Government jet make an additional and unscheduled five-hour stopover in the Bahamas.
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Post by Admin on Mar 18, 2014 21:42:35 GMT
Niall Lawlor, son of Fianna Fail legend Liam Lawlor, is a central figure in US bond titan Ranieri's hunt for Irish assets.
Ranieri pulled out of buying the Ritz Carlton at the 11th hour but is looking at other Irish buys though a substantial Dublin office presence.
Lawlor works for Ranieri Financial Services Leeson (RFSL), which is 50/50 owned by Ranieri Financial Services in New York and Irish outfit Leeson Finance. Lawlor has worked for Ranieri in the States and is an RFSL director.
RFSL's Irish share is owned by Jim Byrne of property investment group Mere Capital, which was involved in several developments around the country.
Byrne owns Leeson Finance, which is seeking to invest around €100m in medium-sized distressed and non-performing loan portfolios, according to its website, which suggests it is pursuing Nama and other bombed bank loan books.
RFSL's stated aim is also to buy up Irish loan books.
Neither Lawlor nor Byrne were contactable before going to press.
Lawlor has been a director at Ranieri since 2010.
He formerly worked for Californian investment bank Chilton O'Connor which had IFSC presence in Ireland in the Nineties and planned to finance a sports stadium here at one stage.
Lawlor was involved in Ranieri's abortive Ritz Carlton bid. It pulled away from a deal to buy the 200-bed hotel on which the controlling company owed €47m to Nama following complications in negotiating with the 100-plus unit owning investors.
The Ritz Carlton hotel loan and asset was bought by Brehon Capital and Midwest holdings, who also own the new five-star hotel at Grand Canal Quay in Dublin.
Brehon/Midwest are now seeking to buy either individual or a chain of mid-tier budget hotels.
Niall's father Liam was a central figure in the Mahon Tribunal, which investigated planning irregularities and corrupt payments to politicians. He died tragically in a car crash in Russia in 2005.
Ranieri was a major trader of the mortgage backed securities that played a huge part in the subprime property crash.
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Post by Admin on Mar 18, 2014 21:55:40 GMT
21 December 2000
At the heart of the Tribunal's interest in Lawlor is that over £4.6 million was lodged to the 18 bank accounts he had from 1983 to date. During this time his Leinster House income and expenses totalled only £515,000. Of the remaining £4.1 million, Lawlor can account for another £1.5 million. That still leaves £2.5 million unaccounted for.
So how did Liam Lawlor accumulate all this money? Well, it seems that when he was not working legislating etc, he was opening companies and offering consultancy services.
One such consultancy company was called Demographic Strategic Consultants. Since September 1998 this company has been paying Liam Lawlor about £1,000 a month. Another company Economic Reports was found to have £161,000 lodged in the company bank accounts.
One venture that soaked up a lot of money was Advanced Proteins. This was set up in 1984 to manufacture proteins. It never traded but had £900,000 lodged in company accounts, £300,000 of which came from Larry Goodman. According to Lawlor the money was part of an ongoing feasibility study into setting up a manufacturing facility in Ireland.
other Lawlor company called Industrial Consultants was set up to provide advice on cold storage in Nigeria. It was through this company that fake invoices were issued to National Toll Roads for £74,000 in political donations to Lawlor.
Lawlor companies had business in not only Nigeria but also Britain, Argentina and the Czech Republic. It was from companies in the Czech Republic that in 1995 Lawlor received loans of £600,000, £30,000 of which has been paid back to date.
When it was put to Lawlor that this was strange to get such a substantial loan, with no schedule of payments, no rate of interest and no correspondence from the lender, Lawlor said, that he had a profit sharing agreement with the Longwater Investment, the company that offered up the £600,000 no questions asked. Lawlor expected some of their projects to become profitable shortly.
However, the most compelling aspect of the life of the man with 18 bank accounts was when he received a cheque from self-styled PR consultant Frank Dunlop. The invoices for this cheque went through a company called Long Associates, with an address in ``downtown London'' according to Lawlor.
So, to which of the 18 bank accounts did Lawlor lodge the money? None. Liam brought the £38,000 cheque to Sarsfield's pub in Inchicore, where the owner Pat Murphy cashed it for him, in installments.
Lawlor got the money in different amounts of between £5,000 and £10,000 from Murphy when he was ``out walking the land, checking the cattle''.
This part of Lawlor's testimony brought laughter from the public gallery at the Tribunal. However there is nothing funny about the millions disclosed so far of Lawlor's wealth. Lawlor argues that this investigation into his private financial life is inappropriate and not within the remit of the Tribunal.
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Post by Admin on Mar 18, 2014 21:57:15 GMT
Dec 15, 2000
FORMER TD Liam Lawlor admitted yesterday that he cashed a pounds 38,000 cheque in a pub.
He told the Flood Tribunal that a publican pal of his, Pat Murphy, would frequently cash large cheques.
The money came from public relations guru Frank Dunlop for advice given on business in the Czech Republic.
Mr Dunlop has already admitted that he paid hundreds of thousands of pounds from developers to politicians for their support in the planning process.
Mr Lawlor, under pressure from inquiry chairman Feargus Flood, gave information he hadn't revealed before.
The dapper former Dublin Fianna Fail deputy said he was unconcerned by the threat of jail.
Asked if he felt under pressure, he said: "I don't know the meaning of the word."
Mr Lawlor said he would be bringing a case to the High Court to stop the tribunal probing his Czech business interests.
Justice Flood said: "I will note this failure to co-operate. I may or may not implement my powers. At the moment, I'm taking no action on it."
The tribunal had already heard how associates of Mr Lawlor extended him a pounds 600,000 loan through a bank in Liechtenstein.
The pounds 38,000 payment from Mr Dunlop was routed to Ireland through a bank in London.
Tribunal lawyer John Gallagher asked: "Were you trying to hide the money?"
Mr Lawlor said: "Absolutely not. I have disclosed every penny I have received since 1985 to my accountants and the Revenue Commissioners.
"I could have possibly cashed it with a local publican. Obviously, he wouldn't have pounds 38,000. He would provide it over a period of time.
"Pat Murphy was a good friend of mine. He had the Sarsfield Bar in Inchicore. I may have given him the cheque that we're discussing."
Mr Lawlor told how Mr Murphy farmed the land around his home in Lucan.
Asked how much he was paid for this, he said: "Very little, pounds 100 an acre."
The tribunal heard how he issued phoney invoices for two donations from National Toll Roads.
They came from a company called Industrial Consultants, with whom Mr Lawlor did only occasional work.
He said: "The late Tom Roche happened to give me two contributions. You are fully familiar with the details: one for pounds 34,000 and one for pounds 40,000."
He said Mr Roche was "looking at the feasibility of the Westlink Bridge at the time".
He added: "Being a Dail deputy is not one of the highest paid positions in the country, as we all know.
"I went in to give public service. I forewent a lot of revenue and income to enter public life."
It was also revealed that one of Mr Lawlor's companies, Advanced Protein Limited, had pounds 900,000 in its coffers even though it never did any business due to the BSE scare.
A firm owned by beef baron Larry Goodman paid pounds 315,000 to the company. Mr Lawlor paid back pounds 203,000 three months later but then received a further pounds 50,000 from the same source.
He said the money in the accounts had come from loans, grants and other cash.
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Post by Admin on Mar 18, 2014 22:14:33 GMT
You could look into Anglo Adriatic investments, Kosta Trebicka and Dan De Marino. Alledgedly Lawlor was involved with these two and this investment company.
As far as I know Trebicka died in a shooting accident.
Anglo Adriatic used "privatisation vouchers" given to Albanian workers after the fall of the soviet union. They lost the lot when Anglo Adriatic collapsed.
Anglo Adriatic was funded by anti Lisbon darling Declan Ganley and the Rothschild Emerging Markets Fund.
Anglo Adriatic Investment Fund:
The Anglo Adriatic Investment Fund SA (AAIF) was established by Irish entrepreneur Declan Ganley. AAIF was established by Ganley International, with a 10% stake taken by the US-based Rothschild Emerging Markets Fund. AAIF was the first foreign-managed investment fund in Albania, provisionally licensed on 13 April 1996 and definitively licensed on 22 May 1996. AAIF collected privatisation vouchers that the government of post-communist Albania was giving to Albanians, and it used the nominal value of those vouchers for investment in areas such as fertilizer, breweries, cement and pharmaceuticals. The Albanians who deposited their vouchers with AAIF recieved shares in the fund in return.
At one point the fund had 450,000 shareholders and vouchers with a nominal value of more than $120 million.
But AAIF had collected too many vouchers: it had 12% of all the vouchers and privatisation leks combined, more that the 10% maximum prescribed by law. Following a lengthly period of negotiation and accusation between AAIF and the Albanian government, AAIF was left unable to continue with the privatisation. Even worse, the market value of the vouchers had dropped from 25.6% of their nominal value in January 1996 to 1.7% in October 1998. AAIF was bankrupted.
Der Speigel stated that AAIF's UK office (128 Mount Street, London, W1Y 5HA) shared an address with the European branch of US investment fund Paladin Capital, and also stated that Paladin Capital's advisory board was chaired by former CIA director James Woolsey. Ganley denies any involvement with the CIA.
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Post by Admin on Mar 18, 2014 22:43:24 GMT
Another company at the 128 Mount Street address was Fields Aircraft Spares, from Simi Valley.
Fields Aircraft Spares had Sir Jeremy Hanley on its board of directors: Hanley's experience in government and industry, particularly the aviation industry, spans more than 30 years. He was a member of the British Cabinet under Prime Minister John Major and served as minister of state at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, with direct responsibility for the Middle East, Far East and Pacific regions.
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Post by Admin on Mar 18, 2014 22:53:31 GMT
In 1986, Tom Gilmartin returned to Ireland from a successful career in Britain and found himself sucked into the mire of planning corruption in Dublin. First he faced demands for bribes, then, when he asked government ministers for help, they in turn demanded payments. When he asked the Garda to investigate, it did nothing.
Instead, a series of spurious investigations into his tax affairs began, with raids on his house in front of his wife and children. For a quarter of a century, he has endured personal slurs against himself and his family – all for telling the truth at the Mahon Tribunal. Finally, this week he has been vindicated. In this exclusive interview with Frank Connolly he tells his story.
Tom Gilmartin did not learn anything from the Mahon Tribunal report that he did not already know. But its findings of corruption against Owen O’Callaghan and Frank Dunlop are something of a consolation after years of grief he and his family have endured as a result of exposing their illicit activities.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the treatment meted out to Mr Gilmartin after he tried to develop his business projects in Dublin from 1986 was shocking and almost unbelievable. Since he came forward to tell his story to the tribunal, and to me in 1998, he has been subjected to an unprecedented campaign of vilification and abuse.
A campaign waged by those whose interests he has threatened, through the media and at the tribunal. In the meanwhile, his personal circumstances and fortunes have been adversely affected in the most brutal fashion. The fact that he is reluctant to engage with a media desperate to get his attention after all those years of vitriol is unsurprising. That he is not even more angry and bitter perhaps is.
He spoke to the Irish Mail on Sunday exclusively this week about the two decades of tragedy and trauma that began when he returned from England in 1986 with the aim of helping to create jobs in Ireland.
Mr Gilmartin said: ‘The report is saying nothing I didn’t know 25 years ago. Coming to Dublin to do business has wrecked my life and my family. I am able to cope with the damage done to me but my wife, Vera, who suffered a mild form of MS back in the Eighties has been totally disabled almost ever since.’
He traces her physical deterioration to a raid on his house in Luton by the British revenue, which was based on false information from unnamed sources in Dublin.
‘The people I was up against would do anything to wipe me out and they did,’ he said.
He left Sligo in 1957, against his father’s wishes, to make a better life in England. He was far more successful in that regard than most of his contemporaries, building a successful engineering company in Luton that made sophisticated mechanical handling engineering systems for the nearby car makers, Vauxhall and other manufacturers. When the industry collapsed in the early Eighties, he moved into property development, identifying sites and investors for projects in Milton Keynes, Belfast and other towns.
After encountering homeless Irish fleeing from the last great recession in the Eighties, he decided to try and create some jobs and wealth in his home country. With encouragement from property group, Arlington Securities, which was prepared to invest £20m, he began to assemble properties along Bachelors Walk in Dublin city centre and at Quarryvale, in west Dublin. But he soon began to meet unexpected obstacles that have been well documented from his testimony at the tribunal.
He encountered Liam Lawlor, then a councillor for Lucan and a Fianna Fáil TD, who gatecrashed a meeting he had with the directors of Arlington, describing himself as an ‘Irish government representative’ who had been asked to assist with the business projects.
Lawlor managed, against Mr Gilmartin’s wishes, to extract a IR£3,500 monthly consultancy arrangement for his so-called help. Lawlor also demanded a 20% stake in the Quarryvale development, which Mr Gilmartin refused, and a £100,000 payment for himself and assistant city and county manager George Redmond in return for gaining access to maps identifying landowners in the Liffey valley area.
Mr Gilmartin said: ‘When Arlington took Lawlor on against my wishes they genuinely believed that he was a representative of the Irish government. He persuaded them to take him on as a consultant or else the Bachelors Walk project would not get off the ground. When he gatecrashed that meeting in London, I was so embarrassed I wished the ground would swallow me. Lawlor and Redmond set about obstructing me at every turn.’
When he complained to then environment minister Pádraig Flynn about the obstacles being put in his path, he was hit with a demand for £50,000, which he intended for Fianna Fáil, but which the minister and his wife used to buy a farm in Co. Mayo.
He was also approached by a man in Leinster House after he left a meeting with then taoiseach Charles Haughey and other ministers, and asked to deposit £5m in an Isle of Man bank account.
But he believes that the most outrageous of all was his treatment at the hands of Owen O’Callaghan and AIB. He had informed the bank of his plans for Quarryvale and he had funded the land acquisition himself with a view to assembling a sizeable land bank, obtaining planning permission for a retail centre at the junction of the N4 to Galway and the M50 ring road. He would then attract investors, including the Duke of Westminster and major retail chains from Ireland and Britain.
Mr O’Callaghan was brought into the deal by AIB without Mr Gilmartin’s knowledge. The Cork developer acquired land at Neilstown/ Balgaddy, which had been earmarked for a town centre in the Dublin county development plan. Unless this designation was transferred to Quarryvale, Mr Gilmartin would not be granted the planning and re-zoning he needed to get his ambitious plan off the ground.
He said: ‘I had the best site in Ireland and O’Callaghan and the bank knew it. I was a nobody back from England and they saw an opportunity to take me out. They had Frank Dunlop and Liam Lawlor involved even before I had any financial dealings with AIB. I had met with senior ministers including [Ray] MacSharry and [Bertie] Ahern in 1988, and had discussed my plans with them so word was already around the town about me.
‘Dunlop was more or less employed by key people in Fianna Fáil as a sort of bag man. Everybody in business knew of Dunlop’s role. I was warned about him several times and told that he would come knocking on the door. He was supposed to be a public relations man but his job was to ensure that everybody from Haughey down got a slice of the action. He was manipulating and paying the councillors to delay the re-zoning of Quarryvale until his client, O’Callaghan, had seized control of my company, Barkhill.’
He added: ‘When I resisted, the Inland Revenue came after me. I had informed AIB that I had a settlement agreed with the Inland Revenue for stg£120,000 in relation to a property deal in Milton Keynes. The next thing the newspapers in England had a headline, “Tom’s Tax problems”, with a photo of me and a claim that I owed stg£7m plus penalties.
‘When the media called to my home, Vera opened the door and was knocked down. The Revenue came looking for up to stg£14m and I was made bankrupt by the courts in 1992 although it was never registered. They seized my car and other assets in front of my wife and children.
‘They then realised their mistake and told me they had been misled with information from Dublin. I didn’t owe them anything but the stg£120,000 we agreed. They offered me compensation for their mistake, which I refused. It destroyed any chance of keeping control of my business in Ireland. I could not even afford the price of an air fare to attend board meetings.’
He added: ‘My family suffered terribly at this time. I learned later the whole plan was hatched in Dublin.’
After he lost control of his company to Mr O’Callaghan and AIB, Mr Gilmartin told his story to solicitor Noel Smyth who threatened senior bank executives in 1996 that if it did not return some £6m to his client, he would blow the lid on the whole business.
He also told Mr Smyth that he believed Bertie Ahern was on the payroll of Mr O’Callaghan, who had told Mr Gilmartin that he paid Ahern £50,000 to ensure that lands at Quarryvale were disposed by Dublin County Council to Mr Gilmartin in 1989 and a further £30,000 to ensure that the rival retail centre at Blanchardstown did not receive tax designation.
He said: ‘At first, I thought Bertie Ahern was straight and then I was told that he was on O’Callaghan’s payroll. The only way I know that though is that O’Callaghan told me about money he gave Ahern in connection with Quarryvale and Blanchardstown. I never made any allegation against Ahern, only repeated what O’Callaghan told me. I was aware that money had gone out of my account, including to Dunlop, even before O’Callaghan had joined the board of Barkhill.’
Dunlop’s activities were only exposed in 1998, when Mr Gilmartin gave the tribunal documents from AIB that showed payments to Shefran Ltd (a combination of his and his wife Sheila’s first names).
Dunlop admitted it was his company and that he had received £500,000 in fees in connection with planning and re-zoning matters.
The story was published on October 4, 1998, after which Dunlop called this reporter and made threats.
Mr Gilmartin said: ‘I exposed Dunlop to the tribunal and that is what set off their investigation. I handed the lawyers, John Gallagher and Pat Hanratty, the documents about Shefran and told them if they could get to the bottom of this company I might co-operate with them. Until then I said I did not want to see the sky over Dublin again.
‘Of course, Dunlop only hung out the small fish and has never disclosed his involvement with bigger politicians and the monies they received. The whole scandal went right to the top.’
Mr Gilmartin also led the tribunal to Pádraig Flynn who tried to get him to change his story.
He said: ‘I felt kind of sorry for Flynn as he was not the worst of them. When the story broke about the £50,000 donation, he started ringing me and asking to meet me. I said it was not a good idea.
‘He wanted me to tell the tribunal that the money was a personal donation to him for his election campaign. I said I would not perjure myself for anybody.’
Mr Gilmartin is angry also at the way he has been treated.
Now living in Cork, Mr Gilmartin has been stripped of the wealth he would have enjoyed if he had been left to carry on his business without political interference and corruption.
But considering what he and his family have been through, he is remarkably sanguine.
He said: ‘It’s a great little country, all right. Now we have a report which confirms what I have been saying for 25 years.
‘It is not much consolation after losing a valuable business and watching my family suffer. But at least I have my dignity.’
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Post by Admin on Mar 19, 2014 8:38:50 GMT
Nov 29 2007
ALBERT Reynolds ordered the Government jet to make an unscheduled stop in an offshore tax haven when he was Taoiseach, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.
The head of the Aer Corps said Mr Reynolds diverted the plane to land at Freeport in the Bahamas on the way back from an official trip to the US.
A stopover in the tax-free zone of Freeport was never a part of the schedule.
Former developer Tom Gilmartin previously told the tribunal he was given information that Mr Reynolds collected EUR1million in New York, Boston and Chicago that year.
Mr Gilmartin said this was for Fianna Fail but he added that his informant said only EUR70,000 made it to the party.
Yesterday the head of the Air Corps, Brigadier General Ralph James told the tribunal Mr Reynolds made an unscheduled stop in Freeport on the way back from a St Patrick's Day trip to the US in 1994.
The Air Corps chief added Mr Reynolds spent six hours in Freeport but no explanation for the stop was recorded.
Brig Gen James also said that the day before the flight to the US, Mr Reynolds was picked up in Cork by Aer Corps helicopter.
Mr Gilmartin had previously testified that rival developer Owen O'Callaghan told him he gave Mr Reynolds pounds 150,000 in the bedroom of his Cork home in March, 1994.
He said he was told Mr Reynolds was tired because he had to be picked up by helicopter the next morning to be brought to the US for St Patrick's Day.
The tribunal has heard pounds 50,000 was collected for Fianna Fail at a dinner in a private house attended by Mr Reynolds and Mr O'Callaghan on March 11, 1994.
Mr James testified that Mr Reynolds was flown to Cork by helicopter that evening and flown back to Dublin at 1.30am.
Later that day Mr Reynolds, his wife and a number of civil servants were flown by Government jet to New York.
The plane stopped over in Boston before picking up the party and flying them to Washington and Chicago.
Mr James said Aer Corps records show that no reason was given for the stopover in Freeport.
But last night Fianna Fail Deputy Martin Mansergh said the stopover at the Bahamas was a full official three-day visit.
He added he was a member of the delegation, that a full report of the talks was on file and there was "no mystery about it".
The TD said some of the evidence given to the Mahon Tribunal by Brig Gen James must be based on faulty recollection.
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Post by Admin on Mar 20, 2014 17:43:38 GMT
03 DECEMBER 2012
Anglo Irish Bank will take a 33pc haircut on a parcel of land it's selling in Florida that was acquired by developer Paddy Kelly in 2004 for $60m (€42m).
It's believed that the state-owned bank has agreed in principle to sell the land to US property developer Zeb Portanova, who must complete the deal to buy the 15-acre site by September 1. It's understood that a $40m (€28m) purchase price has been agreed. The site, Sarasota Quay, was to incorporate a landmark $1bn (€707m) commercial and residential development.
Despite Anglo Irish Bank's effort to sell the site, it has been reported that Mr Portanova may struggle to meet the September 1 deadline.
Two former partners of another planned $1bn development in Sarasota, the Proscenium, have filed a legal action against Mr Portanova in Florida. They claim he defaulted on a deal to pay them nearly $5m. In April, Cadence Bank filed a $3m foreclosure suit against Mr Portanova and the Proscenium.
The Sarasota land owned by Mr Kelly became the subject of legal action more than a year ago. Irish American Management Services (IAM), the company behind the planned development of the site, was backed by Mr Kelly, John McCabe of McCabe Construction, and John Walsh, a long-time investment partner of Mr Kelly. Legal action was taken by Bussoleno, registered in the British Virgin Islands, seeking foreclosure in January last year on mortgages it granted IAM for parcels of land at Sarasota. Bussoleno claimed that IAM was delinquent on $7.7m in loans.
This week, Bussoleno brought a legal action in Ireland against the three men to enforce a $5.77m judgment granted in the dispute by a court in Florida. Legal representatives for Bussoleno told the Commercial Court that the company was concerned that Mr Kelly was subject to debt-recovery proceedings and that he had said his liabilities may exceed his assets.
Bussoleno is a trust for the children of Rene Gareau, a Canadian citizen who had a 40-year friendship with Mr Kelly. The pair had been holidaying in Sardinia in 1999 when the Mr Gareau asked Mr Kelly if he would like to invest in the Sarasota projec
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