Ivor Callely (take III)

bamboozle · 01-08-2010 11:18AM #1

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1299333/Ivor-Callely-claimed-expenses-forged-invoices--Taxpayer-defrauded-phone-scam.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Ivor was submitting forged invoices for mobile phones from a company which had liquidated and ceased trading.

Surely a full scale garda investigation is now required.

01-08-2010 11:26AM

I wish we could still deport scum like this to Australia...

Sulmac · 01-08-2010 11:37AM

So how long before he claims he's a "victim" of "bullying" or an "unfair/biased media campaign/witch-hunt" again?

Of course there should be a Garda investigation - there should have been one already for all the crap he's done!

the_dark_side · 01-08-2010 01:09PM

then I wonder what other revelations will transpire in the next few weeks regarding other members of the government... I watched some of the hearing into his expense claims on Oireachtas Report, and on more than one occasion, he attempted to expose members of the investigating panel, as everyone expected he would.
By the way, its funny how the Indo, RTE, the Irish Times, and Breaking News.ie haven't picked up on this story.

Thoie · 01-08-2010 01:33PM

the_dark_side wrote: »

By the way, its funny how the Indo, RTE, the Irish Times, and Breaking News.ie haven't picked up on this story.

They're currently reporting that rich people are only paying the amount of tax they're legally obliged to pay.

murphaph · 01-08-2010 04:04PM

Great investigative journalism to the MoS. Congratulations to them for this, more needed.

What will happen now? In my opinion, nothing short of a full Garda investigation will suffice, and if these documents are what they appear to be, a trial for Ivor.

It is theft to claim expenses you didn't have or to claim them twice. Simple, ugly theft, like a common criminal.

yoshytoshy · 01-08-2010 04:27PM

I'd be concerned how many more politicians get up to this sort of thing. It's pure evil how anyone can defy the public like this.

Stuxnet · 01-08-2010 05:11PM

why havent rte jumped on this

murphaph · 01-08-2010 05:16PM

Seems Ivor knows about the skeletons in a lot of peoples' closets...This puts BIFFO in a right old pickle...if these documents are indeed a work of Ivor's fiction, BIFFO has to eject him from the party, the Seanad and basically throw him to the lions.

If he does though, Ivor will spill the beans on all and sundry. You can be sure there are phonecalls (sorry!) flying all over the place this evening within FF (and probably further afield). Anyone who thinks Ivor Callelly is the only one of these cretins to attempt to steal money from the Irish taxpayer is sadly wrong.

The culture that has bred in Leinster House is one of entitlement. They think they are entitled to our money ladies and gentlemen. Very interested to see how BIFFO handles this one! If I don't hear calls for Callelly's head from all opposition benches, it will confirm to me that they are all just pigs in the trough.

Skid · 01-08-2010 05:23PM

This is blatant fraud. The Gardaí need to move on this.

And if Brian Cowen has any authority he needs to expel Callely from Fianna Fail immediately.

murphaph · 01-08-2010 05:36PM

98FM now reporting that the MoS have reported what they have.

I doubt the MoS will be in the firing line for a libel case: the documents were clearly not issued by a defunct company using headed paper with a phone number that wouldn't work if you tried to ring it.

Anyway, I have emailed the FF chief whip, who happens to be one of my TDs. I suggest you email your own TDs and call for Callely's head. I want to hear him spill the beans on the rest of them and let us finally start to get Irish politics cleaned up!

Dear John,
I wish to pass on to you my total disgust at what I am reading in the Mail on Sunday today. I am sure you and your FF party colleagues know what I am talking about. I am not one to jump to conclusions but it seems the MoS have Senator Callely "banged to rights" as it were on this one and this time no end of "technicalities" will get him off with a mere suspension from the Senate (should never have been allowed off so lightly in the first place).

I believe the sense of entitlement to my, and my fellow taxpayers' money that pervades the halls of lenister House is now at critical levels. I must work hard for my money John, and to have my taxes taken off me and diverted to an individual like Mr. Callely in this fraudulent manner is really beyond the pale for me. I, as a constituent of your's and as one who recognises FF's failures to regulate our economy, but also who recognises that FF are currently making the hard decisions that need to be made in regard to governmnent spending, wish that Senator Callely be removed from your party and from the Senate and that he should face a Garda investigation and that the Gardai should be assisted in every manner possible in that investigation.

I am not naive, I understand that Mr. Callely will go down fighting and will take as many casualties with him as he can. He is not alone in submitting dubious (to say the least) expense claims in Dail Eireann and Seanad Eireann. I don't care though....Irish politics MUST finally be cleaned up and if you are a decent man, which I believe you to be, you must stand up and do what's right for IRELAND and forget your party loyalties.

Best Regards,

xxxx
xxxx
xxxx

Liam Byrne · 01-08-2010 06:29PM

murphaph wrote: »

Anyway, I have emailed the FF chief whip, who happens to be one of my TDs. I suggest you email your own TDs and call for Callely's head. I want to hear him spill the beans on the rest of them and let us finally start to get Irish politics cleaned up!

We called for O'Donoghue's, O'Dea's, Ahern's and Cowen's heads when they did their respective dirty deeds, and FF voted confidence in the lot of them.

What makes you think that Callely will be any different ?

murphaph · 01-08-2010 07:01PM

Liam Byrne wrote: »

We called for O'Donoghue's, O'Dea's, Ahern's and Cowen's heads when they did their respective dirty deeds, and FF voted confidence in the lot of them.

What makes you think that Callely will be any different ?

Not much Liam, not much. But we have to contact them because seriously, a lot of them think nobody notices their corruption and theft from us taxpayers. FF need to know that we know and we feel disgusted at their actions...and then when they are removed at the next election, their replacements just might watch their step a bit more and then hopefully we will see the start of an iterative (slow) process, by which Irish politics is cleaned up. It will ONLY happen if incumbents who are found with the hand in the till are ejected and ejected hard from government.

If we don't tell the FF party that we are not happy with their carry on, they'll blame their losses at the next election on "the worldwide downturn in the economy" etc.

Liam Byrne · 01-08-2010 07:06PM

murphaph wrote: »

If we don't tell the FF party that we are not happy with their carry on, they'll blame their losses at the next election on "the worldwide downturn in the economy" etc.

That's just smoke, mirrors and delusion on their part.

I would equate those claims to, say, Callely's questioning definitions of "place of residence" and Ahern's "won it on de horses" crap; they have to know that they're lying and are just brazening it out.

I honestly can't believe that they believe their bull**** and spin claims re why they're unpopular.....no-one's that out of touch......

Are they ? :eek:

murphaph · 01-08-2010 07:12PM

Liam Byrne wrote: »

That's just smoke, mirrors and delusion on their part.

I would equate those claims to, say, Callely's questioning definitions of "place of residence" and Ahern's "won it on de horses" crap; they have to know that they're lying and are just brazening it out.

I honestly can't believe that they believe their bull**** and spin claims re why they're unpopular.....no-one's that out of touch......

Are they ? :eek:

I think they actually are, hence the need for ordinary people to tell them that we are not happy about a, b and c. They genuinely do believe their own sh!te.

Liam Byrne · 01-08-2010 07:16PM

murphaph wrote: »

I think they actually are, hence the need for ordinary people to tell them that we are not happy about a, b and c. They genuinely do believe their own sh!te.

In that case (and if some posters on boards, and some of Callely's utterances, are anything to go by) there's little point.

It'll be simply called "bashing" or "bullying" or "a biased witch-hunt" and ignored.

Basically, anyone who has enough cop-on to have issues with these shenannigans isn't going to vote FF anyways; and those who are still "staunch" supporters and apologists will.

So therefore FF don't care what we think.

goat2 · 01-08-2010 07:20PM

is forgery a criminal offence
how could someone in power do this
this is madness

SoupyNorman · 01-08-2010 07:53PM

It's a pity this is a long weekend, Callely has a day longer to help concoct a yarn to spin (although he had 7days before he had to address the Seanad the last time and it only amounted to gibberish)

FF had better approach this with nothing less then unsympathetic and cold expulsion from the party followed by a Garda investigation.

One question, if he is convicted of fraud will he lose his Ministerial pension or is that locked up safe no matter what?

JonathanAnon · 01-08-2010 08:01PM

Surely this must be it for Ivor The Engine, if this case is proven to be true. I mean what do you have to do to get fired from public office???

Gone West · 01-08-2010 10:15PM

He has always protested his innocence, but underneath all of that he knew that he forged invoices. Surely he must have realised that it would all come out someday?

He is well and truely F*cked now

Nevermind get fired from public office... I would like to see another FF head go to jail. Surely this is just not defensible and is just plain illegal?

RATM · 02-08-2010 12:56AM

There's no way Ivor should have to face a trial for fraud, that just wouldn't be fair.

After all Willie O'Dea didn't have to face one for perjury in the High Court so why should Ivor be treated any different?

Nope, if Willie gets off scot free then so too should Ivor. It' s the fairest way

SoupyNorman · 02-08-2010 01:31AM

If Ivor does face criminal proceedings do you think he'll go quietly? I certainly believe that he will either resign or be expelled from FF but I fear there'll be a flurry of backroom negotiations going on to limit the 'pain' he will have to take in order to not spill political beans all over the floor.

Maybe Ivor does not have any leverage? However I would find it hard to believe if a large proportion of TD's havnt been fully truthful when claiming expenses..finding the proof (as concrete as is against Ivor) is the problem.

Release the [media] hounds!

sceptre · 02-08-2010 01:48AM

Even by the standards of what we've seen from Callelly this is pretty shocking. Not necessarily surprising but definitely shocking. If the MoS is correct in what it's printed, this is straightforward fraud, with no room for brazening it out.

FF should have taken hard steps to jettison Callelly before now but if they don't kick him to the kerb and kick him hard after this (should have done it weeks ago guys), they're legitimising every complaint about Fianna Fail being corrupt and facilitating corruption. This is far more straightforward then Bertie's horses or digouts - by the looks of things he's even provided his own faked paperwork proving his blatant dishonesty. It goes beyond fiddling expenses a bit - this as presented by the MoS (and they've included pictures) is slamdunk fraud.

Assuming those documents are correct in their presentation, there should certainly be a case brought by the DPP. And as for the Oireachtas, every man jack of them (except for the president) should be standing up calling for him to be ejected from the Seanad by any reasonable means possible. And every single expense claim he's ever made should be gone through with a fine toothcomb, even if they have to dedicate a staff member to do it for a month or two.

Kudos to the MoS. I've criticised you in the past and won't be stopping any time soon but this is a killer story (well done) and a service to the ordinary citizen.

ParkRunner · 02-08-2010 07:28AM

sceptre wrote: »

And every single expense claim he's ever made should be gone through with a fine toothcomb, even if they have to dedicate a staff member to do it for a month or two.

If the invoices for the mobile phones are true forgeries, it would be very surprising if he did only do it those few times for a few hundred euro (or pounds as he put down on the receipts!?). There must surely be more out there which the MOS didn't get from FOI requests and i assume he will be made pay back every last bit, even if he has to sell his holdiay home and he will be jailed, as would happen any ordinary citizen.

henryporter · 02-08-2010 11:30AM

goat2 wrote: »

is forgery a criminal offence
how could someone in power do this
this is madness

Depends on what you do with the forged documents, which in this case was to defraud the Exchequer (i.e. you and me and every other plebe) out of the tax monies that we stump up every year. Time for the BS to stop and the criminal investigations to begin!

Hootanany · 02-08-2010 11:31AM

Send in the Fraud Squad to the Dail this has to stop NOW

Gunmonkey · 02-08-2010 04:13PM

henryporter wrote: »

Depends on what you do with the forged documents, which in this case was to defraud the Exchequer (i.e. you and me and every other plebe) out of the tax monies that we stump up every year. Time for the BS to stop and the criminal investigations to begin!

Unfortunately he wont see it that way, seeing as all TD's can claim €750 every 18 months he will bitch and claw to the standard that he is only claiming what he is allowed. He even said close to as such in the MoS article, the last paragraph:

"but he just said that any entitlement to mobile phones from the department or the Oireachtas, he had been advised to put in claims as submitted, which were approved by the relevant authorities and payment paid."

That or once he submits the paperwork its up to the Government to find any faults, if they missed it then it is their problem.

Scum of the highest order, just shows 90% of Finna Fail party politics is training them to screw the Exchequer out of every cent they possibly can.

gbee · 02-08-2010 04:32PM

sceptre wrote: »

Even by the standards of what we've seen from Callelly this is pretty shocking. Not necessarily surprising but definitely shocking. If the MoS is correct in what it's printed, this is straightforward fraud, with no room for brazening it out..

At this point, it sure looks that way!

murphaph · 02-08-2010 04:45PM

Hootanany wrote: »

Send in the Fraud Squad to the Dail this has to stop NOW

The Fraud Squad or the Firing Squad?

RATM · 02-08-2010 05:27PM

Another thing this story shows is more blatant waste on expenses for our TDs. Like who the hell ever needs to spend 750 quid on a phone every 18 months?

You can buy phones these days for 20 quid so this figure of 750 for a new phone is just obscene- it actually encourages TD's to go out and buy the most expensive phone on the market.

How many other over-bloated expenses are they 'entitled' to? Are there any lists knocking about? I've heard the Gardai can be entitled for up to forty something different allowances so it'd be interesting to draw a comparison with the slugs in Leinster House.

Liam Byrne · 02-08-2010 05:31PM

Gunmonkey wrote: »

Unfortunately he wont see it that way, seeing as all TD's can claim €750 every 18 months he will bitch and claw to the standard that he is only claiming what he is allowed. He even said close to as such in the MoS article, the last paragraph:

"but he just said that any entitlement to mobile phones from the department or the Oireachtas, he had been advised to put in claims as submitted, which were approved by the relevant authorities and payment paid."

That or once he submits the paperwork its up to the Government to find any faults, if they missed it then it is their problem.

Scum of the highest order, just shows 90% of Finna Fail party politics is training them to screw the Exchequer out of every cent they possibly can.

I'm off to submit an "invoice"

for re-insulating my house, so. Should be able to get a grant for that, because I'm "entitled" to it, and if they miss the fact that I haven't actually paid for it, and that the company on the invoice doesn't exist, it's their problem, right ?

I mean, what possible reflection would the above have on my ethics or decency as a person ? :rolleyes:

Ivor Callely (take III)

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