A "political fund" containing over £118,000, paid by developers to Ray Burke, is expected to be examined by the Criminal Assets Bureau as it begins its investigations into the disgraced former minister.
The fund is all that visibly remains in Mr Burke's accounts of the massive payments he received from business interests during his political career.
Following last month's interim report of the Flood tribunal, which found that Mr Burke had received several corrupt payments from builders, the CAB may seek to seize the money in the fund as an interim measure, according to sources. Mr Justice Flood referred his report to the CAB and other bodies for further investigation.
Bureau officers searched Mr Burke's house at Whitehall in north Dublin last Friday and took away a large amount of documentation. The former minister was not at home at the time. A number of business premises in Dublin and Meath, including the offices of an accountant and a solicitor, were also searched.
Mr Burke has already been in discussions with the Revenue Commissioners following the initial revelations of the payments he received. Following the tribunal's findings, however, he now faces further bills from the CAB for at least the €250,000 he is estimated to have received in corrupt payments.
The bureau will also examine the circumstances in which Mr Burke acquired his former house, Briargate, in Swords in the 1970s. Mr Justice Flood found that this transaction was a corrupt payment from the builders Brennan and McGowan, who built the house. No evidence was found that any money changed hands for the house, although Mr Burke maintains that he paid £15,000 for it.
Two years ago, he sold Briargate and the surrounding grounds for €3.8 million.
It is unclear whether the CAB has any new information about Mr Burke's financial affairs.
The former politician has already been thoroughly investigated by the Flood tribunal, which uncovered previously-undeclared bank accounts in England and the Channel Islands. Shortly before the tribunal was set up in 1997, Mr Burke shredded over half-a-ton of his confidential documents, the tribunal has discovered. Mr Burke said that these documents did not include bank records.
Mr Burke first disclosed the existence of the political fund to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, on the night of the by-election to fill his seat in Dublin North in 1998. He also told the Fianna Fáil fund-raiser, Mr Des Richardson, about the money.
He has told the Flood tribunal on numerous occasions that he was receiving legal and accountancy advice on what to do with the money. Fianna Fáil says that it does not want the money.
Other figures mentioned in Mr Justice Flood's report are expected to be investigated in the coming months. Gardaí investigated allegations of corruption in planning in 1974, 1989 and 1993, but no prosecutions resulted.
