Rehab chief executive Angela Kerins’s husband remained a director of a company for eight months after it signed a potentially lucrative contract with the charity.
Rehab entered a contract in January 2010 with Complete Eco Solutions, which was owned by its former chief Frank Flannery and the husband and brother of Ms Kerins.
Although Ms Kerins told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last week her husband Sean Kerins stood down as a director of the company "once the activity began", official records show he did not resign until August 31st, 2010.
Rehab's spokesman said last night he had no explanation for the eight-month gap. Complete Eco Solutions was registered in December 2009 with Mr Flannery, Seán Kerins and Ms Kerins's brother Joseph McCarthy, each owning one third of the shares. The contract with Rehab Enterprises, a division of the Rehab Group, was concluded only weeks later. The company imported material from China which Rehab used to assemble coffins.
The latest developments come amid acute political scrutiny of the charities sector.
Profit-making venture
A source close to Complete Eco Solutions said it has agreed to furnish information to the PAC, adding it incurred an overall trading loss of €30,000 on the deal. "They will also say it was never their intention for the supply of the coffins to Rehab to be a profit-making venture," said the source.
Mr Flannery, a director of Rehab, is a Fine Gael strategist. The PAC invited him to a hearing last week but he did not attend. After it resolved yesterday to call Mr Flannery to a further hearing, Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said he should attend.
Ms Kerins’s failure to disclose her husband’s shareholding to the PAC was criticised yesterday. “Ms Kerins . . . was less than forthcoming last week,” said Sinn Féin TD Mary Lou McDonald.
The PAC is now examining papers anonymously received by chairman John McGuinness, a Fianna Fáil TD. They are understood to include an invoice for €255,552 from Complete Eco Solutions to Rehab Enterprises on January 4th, 2010.
Rehab’s spokesman confirmed a deal was concluded with Complete Eco Solutions but the ultimate value of the transaction was in the region of €70,000. The €255,552 cited was “not binding” and was based on anticipated demand which did not materialise.
