The former Government press secretary, Mr P.J. Mara, has been ordered to produce to the Flood tribunal all his financial records from 1988 to date, the tribunal was told yesterday.
The tribunal is investigating an allegation by the co-founder of Century Radio, Mr James Stafford, that Mr Mara and the former minister for communications, Mr Ray Burke, operated a "price list" for the award of commercial broadcasting licences. Mr Mara and Mr Burke deny the allegation, which even Mr Stafford admits is "hear say".
It has also emerged that the tribunal has raised with Mr Mara a number of other matters, though no details were disclosed.
Mr Justice Flood yesterday gave Mr Mara's legal team until next Thursday to comply with his order of last December. This requires Mr Mara to provide all documents and records relating to his accounts, as well as details of any interest in, or payments from, companies involved in broadcasting.
The deadline for complying with this order has already been extended twice. Mr Justice Flood said he was not prepared to amend the existing order, which required compliance by last week, but he would "take no action" on this until the new deadline next week.
Mr John MacMenamin SC, for Mr Mara, stressed his client's willingness to co-operate with the tribunal. On each occasion he was contacted by the tribunal, Mr Mara had provided information and the consents requested. Mr Mara or his wife had not caused the delay.
Mr MacMenamin produced a box of documents which, he said, contained 98 per cent of the material required by the tribunal. The remaining documents were still being gathered from the financial institutions.
Counsel said he was concerned about his client's good name. Since July, when Mr Stafford made the allegation, Mr Mara had had no opportunity to vindicate his good name in public.
Mr Pat Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, said he wanted to make it "absolutely clear" that there was no suggestion that Mr Mara was doing anything other than co-operating with the tribunal. He had provided the consents required by the tribunal, an affidavit of facts and documents.
Earlier, Mr Hanratty read from correspondence between the tribunal and Mr Mara's solicitor regarding the tribunal's inquiries into his financial affairs.
The tribunal first ordered Mr Mara to produce documents last October. He then submitted a sworn statement and gave consent to the tribunal to obtain account information from financial institutions. There followed a series of correspondence between the tribunal and Mr Mara, in which both sides agreed some "misunderstanding" might have arisen.
In response to the chairman's order of last December, Mr Mara submitted an affidavit last month. However, the tribunal regarded this document as unsatisfactory. Mr Justice Flood said Mr Mara had "misconstrued" the order.
In reply, Mr Mara's solicitors said their client was trying to comply with the order as speedily as possible. Mr Mara had contacted all the financial institutions he had dealings with in order to obtain copies of his records. He didn't keep comprehensive records and would have to rely on the records of third parties.
