Ex-People's Democracy on Bourgeois Scandals Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source -IRSP Through Irish eyes Fianna Fail's "Goodfellas" Paul Flannigan These days the Irish political scene is spiced with rumour and scandal. The infamous lifestyles of Dublin's criminal fraternity have been replaced on the front pages by the even more infamous lifestyles of 'the politicians'. Almost everyone is now ready to believe that most politicians are up to their armpits in bribery and corruption, taking kickbacks from businessmen for services rendered. A drip-drip flow of news emanating from two public tribunals confirms many of the prejudices working class people harbour about 'their' politicians. The proceedings bring into the open the tip of Irish capitalism's unseemly underworld. The Moriarty Tribunal was set up in September 1997 primarily to look into the shady financial affairs of Charles Haughey, leader of Fianna Fail between 1979 and 1992 and twice Taoiseach, and to detail any payments made directly to him during any period in office. Haughey has taken over the title previously held by Martin Cahill as the country's most illustrious crook Though many legal restrictions hamper the tribunal enough information has emerged to expose and taint much of what passes for normal political practice in the land of saints and scholars. The current leadership of Fianna Fail is increasingly worried about what sludge might eventually spill out from the sewers they have made for themselves. For years there was speculation about how Charlie Haughey lived a lifestyle more fitted to a Saudi prince than a mere politician. Some imagined he had made it big in business investment before he became Fianna Fail leader. This turns out to be untrue The simple truth is that for decades Charlie's luxurious lifestyle was paid for by an assortment of wealthy sponsors. More directly than most political leaders Haughey's morals were the creation of big business. The revelation that Haughey was a kept man came about after a family row in the Dunne family in 1994 as to who should control the family's silver. The family own Ireland's premier retail chain, and are notorious for treating their workers like dirt. In the course of fighting an action by other family members to have him ousted from the 'Dunnes Trust', Ben Dunne instructed his solicitor to reveal that his client had gifted Haughey a sack full of money (I#1.1 million.) The payments were made secretly via a slush fund in an account in the Cayman Islands under the name of Ansbacher. Gifts to friends are not illegal, but when they are made from secret bank accounts, are of such huge amounts and made to prime ministers by parvenu characters like Dunne, then suspicions are aroused. Even worse for Haughey such gifts are liable for tax inspection and should have been declared to the Inland Revenue. A little at a time, pieces from Haughey's financial past are being unearthed. Ireland's dominant politician over the past two decades was receiving large donations from several business sources. He had a bagman called Des Traynor, chair of a private bank in Dublin which controlled flows of money in and out of the Ansbacher account. It was suggested during the tribunal that the account contained upwards of I#45 million. Lucky for Haughey and the rest of his 'firm,' Traynor is now dead, and the Ansbacher account has so far resisted proper legal inspection. Last week representatives of Ireland's biggest bank AIB came before the tribunal and shed some light on their relationship with Haughey. Back in 1979, they explained, the bank agreed to write off a Haughey debt of #400,000. The bankers stated that Haughey had in fact owed the bank #1.4= m. When Charlie refused to give up his cheque books he warned the bank that he could become 'a troublesome adversary'. What raised eyebrows most was that Haughey had been allowed to build up this debt without offering any collateral. He had been borrowing about #12,000 a week for years to finance his champagne lifestyle. Traynor had partly alleviated Haughey's debt by repaying the bank a #750,000 lump sum proffered by some mysterious donor. It seems that there is even more material yet to be uncovered. Another inquiry, the Flood tribunal, is pulling other leading Fianna Failers into the slurry and even threatens the present Fianna Fail led coalition government headed by Haughey's most favoured son Berti Ahern. Set up in late 1997, it is examining allegations of payments to politicians pertaining to Dublin planning decisions after Fianna Fail big boss Ray Burke was forced to resign his post as Foreign Minister. Burke alledgedly received #60,000 from James Gogarty in June 1987 acting= on behalf of two building developers JMSE and Fitswilton plc. When he was a leading city councillor and its chairman in 1985, Burke pushed through controversial rezoning schemes favourable to certain developers. Rumours are rife that Burke is seeking immunity in return for talking freely about corruption in high places. For a long time Burke was a central fund-raiser for Fianna Fail. The story emerged after the 81 year old Gogarty went to the press because he was refused a satisfactory pension from his employer JMSE. Gogarty also alleges that a former senior Dublin Corporation official and Fianna Fail supporter George Redmond received thousands in kickbacks from developers. Redmond denied this, but in a dramatic twist last week was arrested by police at Dublin airport as he arrived back from the Isle of Man carrying more than I#300,000. It is believed that Redmond was desperately= attempting to deposit some of his ill gotten gains in a bank on the island. In yet another twist, developer Tom Gilmartin now says he will give evidence that he paid Fianna Fail EU commissioner Padraig Flynn I#50,000= in 1988 to smooth the way for a development around Bachelors Walk on the north side of the Liffey. The immediate question is whether the present Fianna Fail led government can survive. So far the coalition partners are staying on board hoping that Ahern himself is clean. The opposition parties also have reason to fear a spring cleaning of the political system. The most righteous of Haughey opponents, Fine Gael's G. Fitzgerald also had large personal debts written off by the AIB under the chairmanship of Peter Sutherland, a close political friend and associate. Ahern may not manage to keep himself out of the slurry. His closest political friend and confidante is building developer Joe Burke, whose name keeps cropping up. Burke's name surfaced again recently when Tom Gilmartin spoke of meetings with Ahern in the late 1980's and claimed that he had spoken to him about making a I#50,000 donation to Fianna Fail and to Flynn. Gilmartin claims that Ahern had advised him to speak to his constituency manager Burke about it. Ahern was apparently advising him to meet with his fixer to find out what favours he might expect for a party donation. Who knows, Berti may yet take a dive.! Despite everything, most media criticism of the politicians is weak and misdirected. It is directed solely at them, accusing them of lacking personal integrity. There is little or no criticism of the capitalists who offer bribes and little investigation into what they gain from handing unmarked brown envelopes to politicians. All the newspaper editorials expressed their contempt for Haughey, a man who had the audacity to leach off businessmen and bankers for so long. But did the capitalists not get anything in return? Implicit in some of the letters presented to the Moriarty tribunal is the suggestion that they were not just the innocent victims of Haughey's threats. Haughey was permitted to run up a mountain of bad debt because he 'might be a man of influence in the future'. The bankers had an abbreviation for people like Haughey, they called them KBI's or key business influencers. What kind of things did the politicians do for the banks? In a testament to the Moriarty tribunal, Gerard Scanlan, former chairman of AIB, indicated that Haughey and Fitzgerald were men that any bank manager would be delighted to assist. Certainly politicians of various stripes have helped the AIB become Ireland's most profitable company. They pushed through its takeover of smaller banks, and supported the bankers during the national banks strike. They rescued the AIB from near collapse in 1985 handing over I#350 million of tax payers money. In 1991, the revenue commissioners discovered that the bank was operating 87,660 non-resident illegal accounts containing a billion punts in undeclared income. This was hushed up until a recent leak to Magill magazine. The tribunals are severely restricted as to what they can investigate. The all party parliamentary committee that instituted the Moriarty tribunal disgracefully restricted the investigation into the Ansbacher account to payments made directly to Haughey. This was on grounds of protecting privacy, but there are many more secrets about that account that need to see the light of day. Irish capitalism is protected by walls of secrecy and confidentiality. In April the outgoing chairman of the revenue commissioners disclosed to a closed session of the public accounts committee that the tax amnesty introduced by Fianna Fail and Labour in 1993 covered domestic accounts to the value of a billion punts. He estimated that Irish institutions held assets worth I#80 billion in off-shore tax saving accounts. Even this disclosure was subject to a parliamentary secrecy clause and had to be leaked to the press. Some on the left like Socialist Worker have called for politicians to be sent to jail for taking bribes. This is inadequate. Workers need to know just how much is being kept secret from them about the real wealth in the Irish economy. The Transitional Programme drafted by Leon Trotsky in 1938 states that "the abolition of business secrets is the first step towards actual workers control over industry. "Workers no less than capitalists have the right to know the secrets of the factory, of the trust, of whole branches of industry, of the national economy as a whole. First and foremost the banks, heavy industry and centralised transport should be placed under a magnifying glass." The tribunals can only be the first step to this end. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytire-05.12.99-00:15:54-27357