LIAM LAWLOR, the former Fianna Fail TD, was killed in a car crash in Russia yesterday. The politician died after the car he was travelling in hit a street lamp in the suburbs of Moscow early yesterday morning.

The driver of the Mercedes car, believed to be a local man, was also killed in the accident, which happened at about 1am local time in Himki, in the north of the city. A Ukrainian woman who was a passenger in the back seat of the car, thought to have been a taxi, was taken to hospital with serious injuries. Lawlor, who was in Russia on business, died at the scene and his body was taken directly to the nearby Skhodnya morgue.

The Irish embassy in the Russian capital contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs at Iveagh House in Dublin yesterday morning to tell them that an Irish passport holder called Liam Lawlor had died in an accident.

News of their former colleague’s death circulated at the Fianna Fail ard fheis in Killarney yesterday morning with Bertie Ahern, the taoiseach, leading the tributes.

“Liam was an engaging, witty and larger-than-life character,” said Ahern. “He was also a man with a keen intellect and strong views that he was never afraid to articulate trenchantly. Outside the rough and tumble of political activity, he was extremely popular with his parliamentary colleagues across the political board.”

Mary Harney, the tanaiste, said: “To lose his life in an accident so far from home, represents a terrible tragedy for his family and friends.”

Enda Kenny, the Fine Gael leader, said: “On behalf of the Fine Gael party, I extend my deepest sympathy to Liam Lawlor’s wife, Hazel, and their children.”

Lawlor’s wife received official confirmation yesterday afternoon from the Irish ambassador in Moscow that Lawlor had died in the accident. She was at her daughter Ciara’s house at the time.

“The family are overwhelmed by the kind expressions of sympathy extended to them from home and abroad,” said a statement released shortly afterwards. “Funeral arrangements will be released as soon as they are finalised. At this very difficult time, we ask the media to respect the family’s privacy.”

Lawlor, who turned 60 last Wednesday, was a central figure in recent planning controversies. He was accused at the Mahon tribunal of seeking and taking bribes for planning favours and was jailed three times — for a total of six weeks — for failing to co-operate with the tribunal. Judge Mahon said the former TD was “evasive, dismissive, unco-operative, obstructive and lacking in co-operation to a degree which can only amount to a very serious attempt to knowingly mislead, obstruct and hinder the tribunal”. He was fined €12,500.

Lawlor was first elected to Dail Eireann in the 1977 general election, but lost his seat in 1981. He won it back in February 1982, but was unseated again in November. He was re-elected in 1987 and retained his Dail position until he announced his retirement from politics prior to the general election in 2002. He had resigned from Fianna Fail in 2000.

The work of the tribunal, first chaired by Feargus Flood and now headed by Judge Alan Mahon, is likely to continue despite the death of one of its chief witnesses.

The tribunal was investigating land deals around Lucan, including the rezoning of lands at Quarryvale to build a shopping centre. Lawlor denied claims by Tom Gilmartin, a developer, that the politician had sought IR£100,000 from him, and a further similar amount for George Redmond, then assistant Dublin city and county manager, in return for his support for the rezoning.

It is believed that Lawlor was travelling to Moscow from Prague. He had built up expertise in commercial property in eastern Europe, particularly the Czech Republic, after the fall of the iron curtain.

In the mid-1990s he provided assistance to one of Ireland’s most successful property companies, Ballymore Properties, on the purchase of property in Prague. But the revelations about Lawlor’s role in planning corruption in Dublin discouraged Irish companies from doing business with him.

Despite his controversial recent history, even former rivals remembered Lawlor fondly yesterday. Austin Currie, a former Fine Gael TD in his constituency of Dublin West, said: “He was good company and a great raconteur. He was a very combative constituency colleague and he fought his corner tenaciously.”

Joan Burton, a Labour TD and opponent in Dublin West said Lawlor was a man of “striking intelligence and immense abilities”.

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