Planning Tribunal contacts Lawlor's London solicitors
Former Fianna Fáil TD Liam Lawlor has revealed that the Planning Tribunal contacted his solicitors in London over the weekend.
Speaking as he prepared to enter the witness box at Dublin Castle this morning, Mr Lawlor said he himself had also contacted his overseas lawyers to explain to them the urgency surrounding his requests for records of his past financial dealings.
Last week, the tribunal accused Mr Lawlor of failing to co-operate with its investigations and its requests for documents relating to his financial dealings.
Mr Lawlor had claimed that he could not afford to pay his lawyers to search for and retrieve these documents, but the tribunal discovered that he was living on an estimated €13,000-a-month and had £50,000 (€71,538) in an offshore bank account.
The tribunal also heard last week about how Mr Lawlor received £100,000 from property developer Michael Whelan in an off-the-books payment related to the sale of an acre of land attached to his home in Lucan, west Dublin.
Mr Lawlor had initially claimed that he received the money as a finder's fee after searching for property in London on behalf of Mr Whelan.
However, when the property developer took the stand the following day he said this was untrue and that the money was a part payment for the acre of land in Lucan.
He said Mr Lawlor had asked for the under-the-counter payment and issued a false invoice to cover up the reason he received it.
