[ad_1]
The FAI may have subsidized John Delaney’s lavish lifestyle and efforts to divert media interest from his activities to the tune of three-quarters of a million, but they are the much smaller payments recorded as made to his ex-girlfriend, Susan Keegan. , which are likely to be central to any possible prosecution of the former executive director of the association.
According to the FAI, Keegan received around € 95,000 from the association between 2012 and 2014.
The Dubliner, who now lives in Spain, has acknowledged receiving only € 10,000 of that and the report, from Newry-based accounting firm Kosi, found that substantial amounts apparently paid to her quickly entered Delaney’s personal bank account. .
Most of the payments were made in late 2013 and early 2014, shortly after the association had achieved a substantial write-off of its stadium-related debt following the exit from the Irish market of its original lender for the Lansdowne redevelopment. Road. , Danske Bank.
An American company Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) took over the debt at the end of 2013. The full extent of the discount it obtained on the outstanding amount, which at that time was around 60 million euros, was never disclosed, but the FAI received a Reduction of 12 million euros, something Delaney said could save 20 million euros in principal and interest.
However, the latter was high under the terms of the new deal, and the deal was only seen as a relatively short-term deal that, in turn, would be replaced by a loan from a more conventional lender, something that was ultimately achieved. with the change to the Bank of Ireland in 2016.
However, it is understood that Delaney sought board approval to obtain a substantial bonus from the association board for his participation in securing the savings offered by the original KKR.
A former board member says he felt he was entitled to pay for what he considered his part in obtaining the score and was deeply disappointed when he was reportedly told there was no scope to pay a bonus given the scale of your existing compensation.
Publicly, that was estimated at € 360,000 although last year it was confirmed that the association was also paying the rent of its house and enormous expenses. Kosi found that even after some of this money had been repaid, the association had provided Delaney with an “additional benefit” worth € 725,000.
Defamation actions
In their book, Champagne Football, to be published this week, Sunday Times journalists Mark Tighe and Paul Rowan, who reported a series of stories in this area, place the amount withdrawn in cash from ATMs by Delaney at € 50,000 y Suggest that your FAI credit card was used to pay for jewelry, limousines and hotels. It is also reported that more than € 500,000 has been spent on personal legal expenses, much of it in connection with libel actions.
These arrangements had serious consequences for the association, contributing to its need to reach an agreement with Revenue for 2.7 million euros in 2019.
It is understood that the details of the payments to Keegan were only really examined around that time when then-President Donal Conway and then-CFO Alex O’Connell sought to unravel some of the specific financial issues surrounding the dealings of Delaney with her former employer. in the wake of initial revelations.
The couple are believed to have discovered that a check made out to Keegan for € 25,000 was deposited into Delaney’s account and that an invoice, purportedly from Keegan for € 35,000 was effectively generated within the association’s own system. The Sunday Times reported that it was created by a Microsoft Office account registered at [email protected].
Some of the money is said to have been justified on the basis of a claim that Keegan had acted as a match agent, helping to facilitate the organization of two high-profile friendly matches against England. Keegan has never claimed that he played that role and has denied receiving the money.
Then FAI CFO Tony Dignam says they were approved by Delaney and “several high-level members of the board.” Dignam previously told The Irish Times that he tried to raise a number of financial concerns during his time at the association, but was rejected by “a clique within the board.” He suggested that Michael Cody was a key figure when it came to considering sensitive financial matters.
“I showed my concerns to John Delaney, Eddie Murray and Michael Cody, who was the process for me if I had problems or concerns,” he said of his time at the association in general. “I also raised my concerns with many of the other board members, but no one wanted to know.”
“They [those in effective control] They did what they saw fit and in the end I felt there was nothing I could do to change that. “
It is clear that huge amounts of money in the association were wasted in the following years, but the payments that were apparently made to Keegan can be critical in determining whether the investigation initiated by the Office of the Director of Corporate Compliance leads to criminal prosecution.
A large amount of material, comprising 13 printed documents and a digital device containing 270,000 separate files, including Delaney’s emails, was seized from the FAI offices in Abbottstown under a search warrant in February.
The former CEO was given until July to establish which of those documents he believed to be personal or covered by legal privilege, but then sought additional time and was ordered to provide ODCE with a list before this month for the Court. Superior can make a determination on the matter.
[ad_2]