Property developer Owen O'Callaghan has denied that a letter written by his business partner referred to an 'off the books' payment of £150,000 to secure the Quarrvale rezoning.
Mr O'Callaghan told the Mahon Tribunal that his partner had been using loose language.
Owen O'Callaghan was questioned about a memo to AIB written by his partner John Deane in February 1993.
It informed the bank that £150,000 in ‘expenses’ had been paid to secure the Quarryvale rezoning.
Mr O'Callaghan said he did not know why the word expenses was in quotation marks.
And he said Mr Deane was mistaken in stating in the letter that fellow shareholders AIB had not been aware of these payments.
Mr O'Callaghan said part of the money referred to a payment of £64,000 to Frank Dunlop that the bank had refused to authorise.
He said Mr Deane was not referring to additional ‘off the books’ payments and had been using loose language. He said this was unusual because Mr Deane was usually meticulous in what he stated.
