Government to release more documents on sale of Siteserv
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said that the Government is happy for the Comptroller and Auditor General to investigate the sale of Siteserv by the former Anglo Irish Bank.
Enda Kenny also said that there will be a further release of documents under Freedom of Information tomorrow that will clarify clearly the position of the Minister for Finance relating to the deal.
“I spoke to the Minister For Finance this morning,” said Mr Kenny.
“And in the interests of everybody here, there will be a further release of Freedom of Information tomorrow, which I think will include Minister’s meetings, or so the Minister informs me, in the Department of Finance which will set out his position very clearly.”
Leaders questions in the Dáil has again been dominated by the sale of the Company by the IBRC to Denis O'Brien's Millington at a loss to the taxpayer of €100m.
Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin have demanded an independent inquiry into the deal.
Speaking today Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said: "We know that Siteserv was sold off for €45 million, at a cost to the taxpayer of €105m.
"We also know that the legal advisers acted for both the purchaser and the seller. We know that the shareholders and director got a backhander of €5m. We know all of this, thanks to the dogged persistence of Teachta Catherine Murphy.
"We know that the Denis O’Brien company was not the highest bid. We also know that officials in the Department of Finance were concerned about all of these matters and that the Minister for Finance was briefed on these concerns.
"They recommended that the Minister ask IBRC Chairman Alan Dukes to conduct a full independent review of this sale. Why wasn’t this done?
"In an FOI response secured by Catherine Murphy, an internal memo from the Department of Finance states it was “concerned at the number of very large transactions, of over €100m, which were poorly executed”. We need to know what these very large transactions were.
"We know that Sierra, a subsidiary of Siteserv, which is also linked to Denis O'Brien, was subsequently given the largest contract to install controversial water meters across this State, making millions of euro in profit for private individuals.
"The Taoiseach must now initiate a full, independent inquiry into these matters which go to the very heart of what is wrong with the governance of this state and the relationship between Government and big business, whether under Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil."
The Taoiseach said that the taxpayer's interests can be served by the C&AG.
"In respect of the independence of the C&AG's office, the Minister in the cares of value for money, of which he was given assurance, by the chairman and the chief executive of IBRC, the Minister's happy that the C&AG should look at this completely independently in the interests of the taxpayer," he said.
Gerry Adams rejected the Tasoiseach's proposal, however.
"Mr Kenny’s response to these matters today in which he said it would be a matter for the Comptroller and Auditor General is entirely inadequate," he said.
"A full, independent inquiry into these matters is of now of major urgency."
