A former director of Aer Lingus has told the Moriarty Tribunal that he bought shares in Celtic Helicopters to "mend fences" with Charles Haughey. Joe Malone, who was also director general of Bord Fáilte, said that he had declined to become chairman of Celtic Helicopters when asked by Mr Haughey as he felt there could have been a conflict of interest. He said that this was the first time Mr Haughey asked him to do anything and he had not been too happy about it.
He ended up purchasing £15,000 shares in the helicopter company on behalf of his son but never received a dividend or got any progress reports on the company. The Tribunal also heard that some years later Mr Haughey asked Mr Malone if he wanted to take up more shares in the company. Mr Malone spoke with Des Traynor who advised him against it. Mr Malone said that he was the person who suggested to Cruise Moss, the head of General Automotive in the US, to invest in Celtic Helicopters. General Automotive bought out the Bombardier company in Shannon in 1983, which was responsible for building CIE buses.
In a separate development, the former Taoiseach, Garret Fitzgerald, is due to appear before the Tribunal tomorrow to give evidence about a loan that he had with the AIB, part of which was written off. The Tribunal is to spend today and tomorrow examining this debt in detail. It was hearing the evidence of a bank official this morning.
Dr Garret Fitzgerald settled a debt with AIB bank using just a fifth of his original borrowings. The Moriarty Tribunal has been examining how and why the former Taoiseach was able to clear a debt of £170,000 with a pay-off of £40,000 in 1993. The debt arose when Dr Fitzgerald took out two loans in the 1980s, some of which were used to buy shares in Guinness Peat Aviation.
The loans were amalgamated into one in 1992, and with this Dr Fitzgerald left himself open to total recourse by the bank. He was left in difficulty when the GPA share offer collapsed in 1993. He sold his family home to his son for £30,000 and eventually settled with the bank for £40,000.This followed a series of negotiations between AIB and Mr Paddy Dowling who was advising Dr Fitzgerald.
A senior bank witness, Peter Nugent, agreed with the Tribunal today that the bank accepted the cash settlement rather than take legal action which would have used up Dr Fitzgerald’s assets. The Tribunal also heard that other GPA shareholders who were not exposed to full recourse by AIB settled for 17.5%. Dr Fitzgerald is due before the Tribunal tomorrow to give evidence.
Yesterday counsel for the Tribunal, Jerry Healy, said that this evidence arises out of queries raised by lawyers for Charles Haughey in February of 1999 when their client’s relationship with the bank first came under scrutiny. Mr Healy said that the Tribunal initially did not think it relevant to examine the relationship between the bank and other politicians but they were overtaken by events when the matter was leaked to the media. Mr Healy added there was no suggestion that either Mr Haughey or the bank were behind these leaks.
