Former taoiseach Albert Reynolds has emphatically rejected any suggestion that he was a minority shareholder who would have benefited from the sale of lands at Lissenhall in North Dublin in the 1990s.
Albert Reynolds
Mr Reynolds told the Mahon tribunal today that he was the beneficial owner of Jersey-registered Universal Management Consultants (UMC) which was part of a consortium that sought to develop the Lissenhall lands near Swords as part of a joint venture with Derry-based building company, O'Neill Brothers.
However, he denied that he was the minority shareholder mentioned in documentation who would have benefited to the tune of £600,000, had the consortium successfully purchased these lands.
Questioned by Ms Patricia Dillon, SC, acting on behalf of the tribunal, Mr Reynolds told of his relationship with UMC but denied knowledge of how the company repaid the O'Neill Brothers Stg£300,000 in 2001 when the deal fell through.
Mr Reynolds said he had no difficulty with the tribunal examining the accounts of UMC but said he was not sure if had the authority to do so as he was neither a director or a shareholder.
Ms Dillon said the money was transferred from Mr Reynold's AIB account in London to a registered trust in Jersey, the Uniman trust. The money was then moved to UMC and then to his solicitor in Dublin.
Mr Reynolds insisted that he would not have concerned himself with the small details but would have left these matters up to his solicitors.
