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RYAN TUBRIDY’S AGENT Noel Kelly has said he “acted under instruction from RTÉ” when he mislabelled an invoice as “consultancy fees”.
The invoice was made to UK-based company ‘ASTUS’ to collect the fee of €75,000 that Renault originally agreed to pay Tubridy but was underwritten by RTÉ.
Kelly pinned the decision to categorise the work as ‘consultancy’ on Geraldine O’ Leary, the former Commercial Director of RTÉ.
Today, Kelly and Tubridy sat through two lengthy committee meetings in which they were quizzed by a number of politicians over their part in the pay controversy.
TD Colm Burke asked Kelly why he didn’t “raise concerns” when he saw that invoices were to be paid by a UK company and not Renault. Kelly said he “didn’t raise the question”.
TD Alan Dillon asked Kelly why he hadn’t queried the instruction not to put a name on the invoices sent to Astus.
Kelly rejected Dillon’s claim that he collaborated with RTÉ to “hide” the payments that were made through the bartering system.
“I am not RTÉ,” Kelly said.
RTÉ’s role
Kelly claimed that Breda O’Keeffe, the former Chief Financial Officer of RTÉ, was involved in the deal between Renault and Tubridy being underwritten by the broadcaster.
In a series of emails exchanged between Kelly and O’Keeffe in February 2020 during contract talks – which were given to the Public Accounts Committee this morning – O’Keeffe told Kelly: “We can meet you halfway and increase the fee offer to €435,000 per contract year … €75,000 from a commercial relationship. We have progressed discussions with a 3rd party and look forward to discussing this with you.”
Kelly claimed these emails show that RTÉ’s former Chief Financial Officer was involved in the Renault deal and the decision of RTÉ to underwrite it.
RTÉ has rejected this claim. In a statement this morning it said it disputed the characterisation of the email.
“For clarity, the claim relates specifically to an email that was sent by the former CFO of RTÉ to NK Management on 20 February 2020, which is being characterised as a contractual commitment on the part of RTÉ to underwrite the payments in question,” it said.
“RTÉ does not accept this characterisation. RTÉ’s position is that the email of 20 February 2020 formed part of the discussions and engagement between it and NK Management in relation to the proposed new TV and radio contract with Mr Tubridy/Tuttle Productions and did not comprise a binding legal or contractual commitment on its part.”
Kelly said that RTÉ executive members who have appeared before Oireachtas committees have sought to “distance” themselves from the deal, and to make it seem as though the agreement was made on a Zoom call with former Director-General Dee Forbes.
Appearing before PAC last week, O’Keeffe said: “My recollection is that Mr Tubridy’s agent requested that the commercial agreement be underwritten by RTÉ and this was refused. This continued to be my position and, as far as I am aware, that of the director general, head of content and the RTÉ solicitor, up to the date of my departure from RTÉ in March 2020.
“I was not aware that any guarantee had issued until I heard about it last week in media reports,” she added.
‘Pay cut’
Tubridy and Kelly both stated that the presenter had taken a 20% reduction in pay at a time when RTÉ was making cuts. Alan Kelly disputed that saying “there was no 20% drop in salary in real terms, and to say so has no credibility whatsoever… it was absorbed in a different way, that is quite obvious”.
TD Ciaran Cannon asked if Kelly had not considered whether these invoices would lead to “reputational damage” to both him and Tubridy.
Kelly once again repeated that he did what RTÉ told him to do.
Tubridy, after saying that he is willing to do remaining commercial events if RTÉ calls on him to, clarified that he is willing to pay back fees for these appearances if they don’t take place.
When asked who he would be paying the money back, Tubridy reflected: “It’s a good question.”
He initially said that he would pay back Renault, and then said Astus before concluding that it was RTÉ who paid the money, so he would be paying it back to RTÉ.
Additional reporting by Emer Moreau and Carl Kinsella
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At the very least Tubridy knowingly was part of a conspiracy to money launder taxpayer funds.
Giving a falsified invoice to a third party – and agreeing to hide its true purpose – then refusing to speak up to perpetuate fraud on the taxpayer… that’s all demonstrably true.
Claiming he committed fraud cause his employer told him to isn’t a legal defence.
He was paid 10s of thousands of euro – which cost extra 10s of thousands because it was hidden via the barter account – for work he didn’t do: consultancy.
He then knew RTE was misstating his wages – and his manager was in cahoots with RTE to launder the money – and didn’t say boo until a public audit found it.
Here’s the definition of money laundering:
“Money laundering is the illegal process of hiding the origins of money obtained illegally by passing it through a complex system of banking transfers or other transactions”
Falsifying invoices to receive money, then hiding that money via barter accounts and offshoot companies – that’s what drug gangs do.
And also apparently our state media and its biggest star and his manager.
Any of us that did this would be arrested.
@Chris O’Brien: enjoy the ensuing lawsuit for defamation, you’ve watched too much American TV shows…
@SF Means Sh!t 4 Free
: i vos only obeying zine orders
I’m pretty sure he said that for EVERY answer:
“I was under instruction from RTÉ”
Might have easier to get a tshirt saying that….
@Alan Leahy: if RTE told him to go out and rob a bank, would he? He knew it was illegal and still acted so he should be charged with criminal offenses
Mislabeling invoices, sending them to the UK out of the state and paying 0% tax all while asking no questions should be enough to get the gardai involved.
Laundering money just because someone else told you to do it is hardly a defence and it’s impossible to believe an experienced agent didn’t know what was going on. Also impossible to believe Tubridy wasn’t aware of any of this.
@Rochelle Hart: I’m not sure if Tubridy would have known the ins and outs of the iffy book keeping but 100%, he knowingly committed a criminal offense.
Our money. Our money. Burned up like confetti for this shower of thieves.
He stutters bad when he’s lying.
I hope Revenue go into RTE and really dig into the accounts of these so call self employed ‘stars’. If I tried anything like this Revenue would have a tax bill and fine last Tuesday.
@Dave C: Revenue? Don’t make me laugh…they wouldn’t dare!!!
Did he pay taxes on the extra payments?
@taxpayer:
I find this frustrating
The amount of energy pumped into peanuts
Public money
This is just typical Irish
Fight the real battle
When you have a children’s hospital €1B over budget
Who’s asking questions there
Janey Mack, he really does look like an extra from the Godfather… “I was acting under instructions…Capice!”
waits for the tv movie to be made on this dumpster fire
1: Ryan Turbidy played by Panti Bliss
2: Noel Kelly played by Dustin the turkey
3: Dee Dee played by Lottie Ryan
4: Simon Cooveny bro played by Catherine Zappo or whats her name
5: RTE building to be played by New National Maternity hospital
6: PAC to be played by clones of Frank Lampard
7: Special cameos by Philip Scoilefield or whats his name and the BBC naughty arse shower
So even though he might have thought it was unusual or dodgy, he went along with it? Bit like the old only following orders excuse. Didn’t work out too well for the last bunch that went down that road.
Time to go Ryan and Kelly drop you in it
Odious little man..
He should be a football agent.
Me bo. Lix
I was just following orders..
Where did I hear that before?
His defence was no defence, and he knows it only too well. He committed fraud, and he should be investigated by the relevant authorities. I expect RTE to rebutt his account of events on Thursday. I listened to Backhurst earlier and he acknowledged that the behaviour of some members of RTE was shameful, but he was quite pointed when he said other parties must also take responsibility for their actions. I expect a few bombshells tomorrow and Tubridy/Kelly may yet wish they’d stayed at home.
Is it illegal to describe the work/service incorrectly?
Seems to be normal in ireland.
have your say