Senior counsel John Rogers launched a spirited and impassioned defence of Liam Lawlor in the High Court today to prevent the Flood Tribunal trying to send him to jail. That is what they want Mr Rogers said but their application is premature.
"That man", he said, referring to Liam Lawlor, "was delivering". He pointed to two affidavits he swore in November and December. The contents of one enabled the Tribunal to establish that Mr Lawlor had received £4.5million. "That doesn't look like concealment", he said.
The Lawlor case is that he has been endeavouring to comply with the High Court order, but he misunderstood the relevance of some of the information and documents being sought but he regretted his efforts were inadequate and he is in the process of putting matters to right.
Had Liam Lawlor been stood down by the Tribunal and given the opportunity to provide the information being sought and if he had then failed to deliver, the Tribunal would have an unanswerable case, but as it is they acted immediately. Since mid-December family and friends have been working on assembling information: letters have gone to 272 people for further information and the Lawlor team has only took some time off on Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day.
Nonetheless, the Tribunal believes a conscious and serious breach of the High Court order has occurred and the court should not let it pass unmarked. Mr Justice Flood is sceptical that Mr Lawlor will deliver on all information he is seeking, but he is delighted that it appears to be the case. But still, what Frank Clark called the "historic contempt" must be dealt with. Simply to adjourn the matter on a promise from Liam Lawlor would not give adequate weight to the contempt that has occurred, he said. If others were to handle their obligations to tribunals in the same fashion, the tribunals would find it impossible to carry out their work. The case resumes in the morning and should conclude by lunchtime.
