Last November or December, Mr Denis Foley TD entered into discussions with the Revenue over undeclared income going back 35 years.
A payment of £50,000 has already been made but the two sides are still in negotiation.
Mr Foley still has more than £130,000 sterling (£169,000) in his Cayman Islands account but may encounter difficulties securing the return of these funds.
Mr Foley began giving evidence yesterday afternoon. Back in 1965 the then rate collector was asked to help to get bands for the ballroom of the Mount Brandon Hotel, Tralee.
He took up the suggestion and subsequently got involved in similar duties for the Central Hotel in Ballybunion.
The property developer, Mr John Byrne, was involved with both hotels.
Mr Foley was paid £480 a year by Mount Brandon Hotel on the books. However, a further £1,000 a year was paid to him off the books.
Mr Foley did not declare this money, bought bank drafts with it, and kept these bank drafts at home in a cabinet. At times he would go to the bank and, without having to pay a fee, swap the old bank drafts for new ones.
The late Mr Des Traynor did Mount Brandon Hotel's books during the 1960s and Mr Foley met him on a number of occasions.
He recalled meeting Mr Traynor in the hotel foyer in the mid-1970s, when Mr Traynor had moved to Guinness & Mahon bank. Mr Traynor said he could get Mr Foley a good rate if he had any money to invest.
In October 1979 Mr Foley called on Mr Traynor at Guinness & Mahon bank with £50,000 in bank drafts.
Of this money, £23,000 was undeclared income; £7,000 was after-tax income; £14,000 was money Mr Foley had been given by family supporters towards an unsuccessful attempt to win a seat in the 1977 general election; the remaining £6,000 was given by other supporters.
Mr Traynor said he would send on a receipt. Mr Foley wanted a receipt there and then, and he was given two current account receipts, without account numbers.
Mr Foley got no statements until early 1983 and when he did they contained neither his name, nor the name of the financial institution involved, nor the account number.
Mr Foley said he knew the amounts were in sterling and therefore that the account was offshore. He agreed he knew the account was being hidden from the Revenue.
Over the years very little information was given. He made two withdrawals, one for £10,000 and one for £20,000. Mr Traynor died in May 1994 and in August 1995 Mr Padraig Collery processed a withdrawal of £50,000 from the account. Around this time Mr Foley was told that a Mr John Furze was dealing with his account.
In 1998 Mr Foley, who had received no statements in the meantime, again contacted Mr Collery and requested a meeting. The two men met in Dublin Airport on August 18th, 1998.
What transpired is disputed but in May of last year Mr Foley was sent statements from Mr Collery showing his money was invested in Hamilton Ross and Ansbacher Cayman. Despite having received these statements, Mr Foley went ahead and took part in the televised DIRT hearings in September.
In the summer of 1997 the McCracken (Dunnes Payments to Politicians) tribunal had revealed the existence of the Ansbacher deposits. The term is a loose one for offshore accounts linked to Guinness & Mahon bank and operated by Mr Traynor and Mr Collery in this jurisdiction, in partnership with Mr Furze in the Cayman Islands.
When these facts were disclosed Mr Foley surely knew his investment was almost inevitably in these accounts.
There is no evidence he ever asked Mr Collery if this was the case.