Dermot Desmond - Glackin Report

Glackin Report

In 1991, a company law inspector, solicitor John Glackin, was appointed by the then Government to investigate complicated dealings involving Mr Desmond and the purchase and sale of the former Johnston Mooney and O’Brien site in Ballsbridge, Dublin. While Mr Desmond represented himself as an intermediary in the sale, Glackin’s report said Mr Desmond, businessman JP McManus and John Magnier were beneficiaries of the sale. Mr Desmond strenuously disputed Glackin’s findings.

According to the Glackin Report, Hoddle Investments (the vehicle through which the deal was handled) executed two contracts with Telecom Eireann for the sale of the Johnston Mooney & O'Brien site for an aggregate price of £9.4 million, on May 7, 1990. The proceeds of the sale were lodged to an NCB account.

According to the Moriarty Tribunal report, the next day, on May 8, 1990, £206,613.57 was withdrawn from one NCB account, converted into sterling £200,000 and transferred to the Aurum Nominees No.6 account at NCB (proxied to an offshore Ansbacher Cayman account) held for the benefit of then Taoiseach, Charles Haughey. Aurum Nominees Limited was a company established by NCB for the benefit of its clients, and used at the time by several of the beneficiaries to the deal, including JP McManus, Lochlann Quinn and Martin Naughton. Mr Quinn and Mr Naughton were owed money by Mr Desmond and he used the proceeds of the sale to pay off his debt to them, according to the report.