Author: Anthony

Mansergh cover up

Fianna Fail TD Martin Mansergh has contradicted the evidence given today at the Mahon Tribunal by Air Corps Brigadier General Ralph James. The evidence concerns an official visit by the then Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, to the Bahamas in 1994

Mansergh, who was on the trip as a special advisor to Reynolds said the three day visit was a formal trip and not an unscheduled diversion. On The Last Word (Today FM) Mansergh is reported as saying the general’s evidence was based on faulty recollection.

But in his usual sly and underhand way Mansergh is not telling the whole truth.

Brigadier General James did not claim that the trip to the Bahamas was unscheduled. He did, however, claim that there was an unscheduled flight from Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, to the island of Freeport North of the capital.

This unscheduled flight was specifically requested by Reynolds who spent six hours on the island. There is no record of what he was up to for those six hours.

It is clear that Mansergh has no scruples about calling into question the reliability of James’ evidence in an apparent attempt to cover up for Reynolds.

The relevant transcript from the Tribunal is worth reading. Questions 90 – 127 and specifically questions 96 – 98.

Mysterious stop over

The cigar smoking, greasy mustached general accompanied the dictator out on to the runway where the Government jet was ready for take off. His Excellency was on his way to attend a very important meeting where the price of bananas was top of the agenda.

Before boarding the general reminds his Excellency about ‘the other business’ he must attend to after his very important meeting. The dictator thanks the general and promises to promote him to Field Marshal on his return.

The very important meeting went well, much business was done and the dictator boarded his jet for the return flight. Two hours into the flight the pilot is instructed to divert to the Bahamas. Unfortunately, the pilot is new to the job and unfamiliar with the ways of the world; he protests;

“But your Excellency; I must follow the flight plan and take you safely back to our glorious republic.”

After a couple of clatters around the head and a threat that his family would be forced to join Fine Gael, the pilot does what he’s told.

The dictator is in a hurry, only spending six hours in the Bahamas attending to ‘the other business’, before continuing his journey home.

After all he has been away nearly a week now and his people must surely be suffering from the absence of his great leadership.

ENDS

Brigadier General Ralph James was one of those giving some very interesting evidence to the Mahon Tribunal today.

It seems that the then Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, made an unscheduled flight to the island of Freeport while on an official visit to the Bahamas in 1994. He was returning from St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the US.

Former developer Tom Gilmartin has alleged that Reynolds collected $1 million in New York, Boston and Chicago that year but that only $70,000 made it to the Fianna Fail party.

The general said there was no reason recorded for the unofficial flight.

Ahern's pay rise

Letter in today’s Irish Times

TAOISEACH’S PAY RISE

Madam,

It is widely recognised that Fianna Fáil TD Martin Mansergh is a man of high intellectual abilities.

His significant role in the successful Northern Ireland peace process is also an indication that he is a man of exceptional political and diplomatic intelligence.

It is therefore reasonable to assume he is fully aware that his claim that Bertie Ahern should be the highest-paid individual in the State, on the basis that he has more responsibilities than anyone else, is puerile nonsense (November 22nd).

The fact that a man of Dr Mansergh’s high reputation is reduced to mouthing such a ridiculous defence is itself confirmation that the pay rise was totally unjustified.

If this ludicrous logic was extended to the United States, for example, President Bush would be in receipt of an income greater than Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates, who has a net worth of $53 billion.

Sadly it seems that Dr Mansergh, for all his abilities, is motivated by nothing more than the traditional Fianna Fáil backwoodsman mentality of defending the party and its leader above all other considerations.

He cannot be unaware of the damage such an attitude does to the interests of the Irish people.

Yours, etc,

ANTHONY SHERIDAN

Smothered in love letters from Revenue

I see the Revenue Commissioners have offered yet another amnesty to tax evaders (Sub. Req’d).

Ireland is the only country in the world that operates a policy of continuous amnesties for tax criminals, all other jurisdictions preferring the option of law enforcement.

The latest amnesty is aimed at single premium insurance accounts and was launched in 2005 when Revenue asked insurance companies to write to their customers inviting them to obey the law like everybody else. While this strategy had some success many of those involved declined the offer.

Revenue responded by issuing yet another batch of letters directly to account holders again inviting them to obey the law and promising not to prosecute if cooperation was forthcoming.

Let’s consider exactly what’s happening here. Initially a number of citizens decided to cheat on their taxes through their insurance accounts. When Revenue became aware of this widespread tax criminality they asked the insurance companies to invite the tax cheats to obey the law.

When the criminals replied with two fingers Revenue then decided to write directly, again inviting them to obey the law with promises that if they do they will avoid prosecution.

Remember this is the third occasion in which these criminals have consciously opted to break the law and they are still receiving invitations to meet their obligations.

Irish tax criminals are justified in their two finger response. Revenue has opted for the lazy and cheap option of writing letters of invitation instead of rigorously enforcing the law.

The message sent out is loud and clear – Tax evasion is well worth the risk. Even in the unlikely event of detection the only real danger involved is the possibility of being smothered in love letters from a weak and ineffective Revenue.

Copy to:
Revenue

Operating in the wrong country

When a tearful Bertie Ahern was interviewed by RTEs Bryan Dobson in September 2006, he mentioned that he appointed people to State boards because they were his friends. Bryan Dobson didn’t seem to notice that what the Taoiseach was admitting is considered a crime in real democracies.

I wonder was Dobson thinking of that infamous interview when he was reporting on the travails of former French president Jacques Chirac on last night’s Six One News? (11th item)

Poor old Jacques has been placed under judicial investigation for giving out jobs to 40 political sympathisers while he was mayor of Paris.

Despite denying any wrongdoing Jacques will still have to face some sort of accountability.

How he must envy Irish politicians who live in a country where they face losing power if they don’t’ give jobs to political sympathisers

Puffed up politicians

When Minister for Health, Mary Harney, was asked for her reaction to a recent poll that said only 13% of people believed the health service had improved since she had taken over and a massive 53% said that it had got worse, she replied:

“That’s not surprising because the public perceive the health service on the basis of what they hear from programmes like yours.”

(RTE, News at One, 1st item)

This is more than just the usual cowardly political reaction of blaming the media. It is patronizing and insulting to the intelligence of Irish citizens. Effectively, Harney is suggesting that ordinary people are incapable of coming to their own independent conclusions.

As a further defence she quoted figures from another poll that found up to 90% of patients were very happy with the health service. The crucial difference here is that it was a poll of patients.

I remember around the mid 1980s when military personnel were getting more vocal about the primitive conditions in military hospitals the authorities responded by asking patients to sign a form declaring that they had received adequate care or, alternatively, outline any complaints they might have.

Not surprisingly, I never witnessed or heard of a single patient making a complaint.

The 90% positive response also reminds me of so called elections in places like Saddam’s Iraq or the North Korea of Kim Jong il.

These are situations where those in power are more interested in their own puffed up appearances rather than facing inconvenient realities – Much like Ireland in 2007.

DCC/Fyffes case: Curious RTE (non) coverage

The RTE coverage of the DCC/Fyffes scandal is curious. When the Supreme Court made its decision last July, RTE, of course, reported the event but there was very little in depth analysis.

The case was up again in the Supreme Court on 13th November last. RTE News at One (6th item) reported on proceedings and did an interview with Richard Curran, deputy editor of the Sunday Business Post, but after that it was a virtual blackout.

I have carried out a comprehensive (but not exhaustive) trawl of the various news/current affairs programmes on RTE and have found no further mention of the case.

This is curious because the case is not just run of the mill business interest but is a story of major national importance involving two very important companies that could see costs/awards running to well over €100 million.

It is also, to my knowledge, the first incidence of insider trading in modern Irish history. That fact alone should warrant extensive mainline coverage.

Even allowing that the RTE business section seems to be severely under resourced the lack of interest in the DCC/Fyffes case is puzzling.

Grotesque distortion of the English language

Michael Buckley is a former chief executive of Allied Irish Banks, an organisation responsible for the theft of millions from both customers and the State.

He is now the senior independent director on DCCs board, a board that is fully supportive of its executive chairman, Jim Flavin, who was found by the Supreme Court to have engaged in insider trading.

Buckley says that that the board’s stance is

“grounded in justice, fairness, honesty and decency”.

Words like justice, fairness, honesty and decency coming out of Buckley’s mouth in respect of these events can only be described as a grotesque distortion of the English language.

Later, he further justifies the board’s stance by saying:

“Anyone concerned for the reputation of the Irish market as a result of the affair would reach the same conclusion.”

This is a less than subtle message to regulatory agencies that if they make a big fuss about this it could make Ireland look bad internationally.

A similar strategy was employed during the DIRT scandal. Politicians, government departments like Revenue, Dept. of Finance and other so called regulatory agencies were warned that if they did anything to stop the mass criminality involved there would be a flight of capital out of the country.

This strategy worked until the only real regulatory agency, the media, got wind of the scandal.

Judging from the almost complete lack of action against DCC and Jim Flavin, it looks like the so called Irish regulatory/law enforcement agencies have again folded under pressure from the likes of Buckley.

The 'Do Nothing' strategy

Last May, Revenue Commissioners chairman Frank Daly is quoted in the Irish Times (Sub. Re’q).

“We have turned a corner as far as tax evasion is concerned, and it is important that we keep going in the right direction.”

“There was no indication of any serious area of systematic fraud or evasion within the tax system.”

In yesterday’s Sunday Independent we learn that after a Revenue trawl through just 86 accountants 52 (60%) of them were found to be underpaying tax. I just love that soft and gentle word ‘underpaying’.

Apparently, no such word exists for dodgy social welfare recipients. They are unequivocally referred to as thieves, cheats and fraudsters who do untold damage to the state and its citizens by their grasping greed

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) is the authority allegedly responsible for keeping accountants in line. A spokesman for the institute said they did nothing if any of its members made a settlement with the taxman as a result of ‘underpaying’ tax.

Do nothing? Yes, that would be close to the strategy of most so called regulatory agencies in Ireland.