House Mago says he built ‘for free’
Court told extension work was valued at €440,000
THIS is the extension “the size of a two-storey apartment” Kinahan target James ‘Mago’ Gately claimed his pal and his dad helped him build practically for free.
The construction, his house in Dublin as well as a VW Golf and a ladies Rolex watch are the subject of a Criminal Assets Bureau battle against Gately and his partner Charlene Lam it claims are derived from proceeds of crime.
The pair are “hotly contesting” the application and a judgment is due later this year after a High Court hearing two weeks ago.
The images of the extension, from Google Earth, show a wall of patio doors on the ground floor leading out to the garden.
A planning application was lodged in November 2013 and granted by Dublin City Council in 2014.
A surveyor for the CAB and a surveyor for Gately and Lam agreed the value of the works were €440,000.
However, this is disputed by Gately who claimed his late dad and his pals completed all the works for free and he got a discount on materials.
The existing three-bed house was also extensively renovated and the garden was landscaped.
The court heard emails between a named architect and Lam, using Gately’s email address, showed a conversation relating to “drawings for the builders to get prices” for the project as well as revised architectural plans for a named builder.
However, a surveyor for the CAB stated in the affidavit that despite Gately stating “all labour was free” this is “not borne out by the evidence as an architect was getting prices from a professional builder”.
His evidence stated: “In my opinion the materials for the works are between €160k to €197k plus VAT and none of the materials were paid for through their accounts.”
He added labour costs would be in the region of €144,000 to €177,000. The High Court heard the Coolock house was bought in 2013 for €125,000.
In an affidavit, Gately claimed he put a €12,500 deposit on it in 2013 and took out a 40-year mortgage.
He said he made the repayments until 2015 when his partner took over the payments as he has not been working.
The court heard Gately has not worked since 2015 as “there were credible threats on his life,” and has not applied for benefits.
Lam is self-employed and runs Bomb Shell Beauty by Charlene which takes an average of
€30,000 a
SURVEYOR’S AFFIDAVIT
year and supports Gately. The court also heard that while Gately was in Belfast for five years because of a credible threat to his life, he claimed he “was valeting cars for
food. I earned enough to keep me ticking over”. The affidavit also alleges Gatley is “a leading and prominent member of the Hutch Organised Crime Gang involved in armed robberies and the importation of controlled drugs.
Defence counsel said his client, who was shot on two occasions, was targeted because people assumed he had criminal connections. In 2017 Estonian hitman Imre Arakas was brought to Ireland to murder Gately.
In May 2017, Kinahan-linked gunman Caolan Smyth shot him five times at a petrol station in Dublin but failed to kill him.
In his affidavit, the CAB officer linked Gately to the murders of Aidan
Byrne, Eamon “The Don” Dunne and that of David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in 2016.
But defence counsel said he has never been charged for any of these.
Mr Justice Alexander Owens reserved judgment and said a written decision will be given “in due course”.