MR Ben Dunne had referred to Mr Charles Haughey as being "skint", the director of an Isle of Man company, European Corporate Services, told the hearing.
Mr Julian Harper provoked laughter at the tribunal when he was asked if Mr Dunne had ever referred to Mr Haughey and he replied: "He did and I can't remember for the life of me what." After a pause he added: "But he referred to Charlie Haughey as `skint'."
Mr Harper told Mr Michael Collins SC, counsel for the tribunal, that he became involved with Mr Duane in connection with a Hong Kongbased company called Witrex. This company sourced products in the Far East for Dunnes Stores. A structure had been set up involving Equifex Trust AG, based in Switzerland.
"I was the manager of Equifex, authorised to manage its accounts", he said. Its affairs in Switzerland were dealt with by solicitors in that country.
He told Mr Collins that up to 1993 no one had been authorised to give instructions about Equifex except Mr Duane. After that the papers had been transferred to Mr Noel Smyth on Mr Duane's instructions.
Mr Harper gave evidence of a transaction involving £471,000 sterling on July 14th, 1988. "There was a phone call from Mr Duane wanting to make a payment of £471,000. He said it was a very sensitive transaction." The money came from Witrex in Hong Kong, via the Swiss solicitors, to Equifex, and eventually to Barclay's Bank in London, payable to Mr John Furze.
Asked about the way in which he had received instructions, he said: "The pattern of things was always to receive telephone instructions from Ben Duane. I don't think I've ever seen anything he's written."
Asked about a further transaction involving £150,000, he said he did not remember much about it. Asked if there was anything "unusual" about this transaction, he replied: "It is difficult to say that anything he [Mr Dunne] did was unusual. It was usual to be unusual."