The judge leading the inquiry into the sale of building services group Siteserv to billionaire Denis O’Brien is considering “some additional evidence” as he prepares a revised draft report on the deal.
In an update last month to Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Mr Justice Brian Cregan said he plans to issue his revised draft report to all relevant parties on or about April 30th.
The judge said his commission of inquiry, under way since 2015, could give a final report by August 30th if there is no High Court challenge to the findings. However, he said, he “cannot predict” the impact on the report’s timing if any party seeks a judicial review in the High Court.
Last month, the Taoiseach granted an extension to the inquiry for its work on Siteserv until August.
The judge is known to have said in preliminary conclusions last year that the Siteserv sale by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation was not “commercially sound”.
Several witnesses are said to have questioned such findings in submissions to the judge, whose draft report ran to 1,280 pages across 28 chapters.
In his 11th interim report to Mr Martin in March, the judge said “detailed submissions” on the draft running to more than 1,600 pages from 12 different parties. “These submissions raise a number of complex matters,” he said. “The commission is currently in the process of carefully considering all of the submissions received.”
Parties will be given eight weeks to review the next draft report, which means they will have until June 30th to make any further submissions if the findings are released on April 30th.
“If any submissions are made in response to the draft report, the commission will have to consider what (if any) action is appropriate in response. The commission estimates that it may require two months to review such submissions,” the March report said.
“If any party applies to the High Court…, the commission will also have to consider how best to respond to such application.”
Siterserv was sold to the Denis O’Brien-owned Millington for €45 million in 2012, with the IBRC writing off €119 million of the €150 million it was owed by the company.
The Siteserv deal was the first of 38 linked to the now liquidated IBRC, involving the write-off of nearly €2 billion in debt, to be investigated by the commission. In a previous interim report, the judge questioned his own powers to investigate some foreign-based individuals.
