June 6, 2003 McKevitt in High Court Move Over Documents on FBI Man
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ALLEGED Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt, the first person in the State to be charged with the offence of directing terrorism, began a High Court application yesterday to compel the disclosure of documents relating to the credibility of FBI agent David Rupert, the main prosecution witness in McKevitt's trial.

Mr Rupert has received to date a minimum of Stg#297,647 and $250,000 for his "services", Mr Justice O'Neill was told.

It was also claimed the British Security Services (BSS) had "successfully and deliberately" misled prosecution counsel here into a belief that there were no acknowledgements of criminality on the part of Mr Rupert during a recent discovery hearing in McKevitt's case before the Special Criminal Court (SCC).

"This illustrates the dangers in accepting assurances from foreign investigating authorities whose standards of probity are at the very least questionable and whose conduct in this case has been demonstrated to mislead both the prosecution authorities here and the SCC," said Mr James MacGuill, solicitor for McKevitt.

McKevitt (51), with an address at Blackrock, Dundalk, is in custody awaiting trial before the SCC in February. He is charged with membership of an unlawful organisation, the Irish Republican Army, and with directing terrorism between August 29, 1991 and March 28, 2001.

The SCC recently refused an application by his lawyers for the disclosure of documents, particularly material in the possession of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the BSS relating to Mr Rupert.

Yesterday, Mr Hugh Hartnett SC, for McKevitt, sought leave to apply for orders quashing that refusal and preventing further steps in McKevitt's prosecution until the disclosure matter is determined. The hearing of the application resumes on Thursday.

In an affidavit, Mr MacGuill said certain documents furnished to the defence to date "show very clearly that a great deal of material relating to David Rupert has been redacted and/or edited by people involved in the evidence gathering process."

Various aspects of documents "have been treated in such a manner as to erase significant portions of the material in such a way as to make them incomprehensible", Mr MacGuill said.