The Moriarty tribunal is to insist that former Taoiseach Mr Charles Haughey appears before it to explain how sums in excess of £8.5 million from banks, stockbrokers and top businessmen came to be used for his benefit over a 17-year period. The payments, between 1979 and 1996, totalled £2,493,000 in sterling and £6,148,000 in pounds, Mr Jerry Healy SC, for the tribunal, said. They were entirely separate from Mr Haughey's salary as an elected representative and from his expenses as party leader.
It was clear a great deal of money had been paid to Mr Haughey between the years 1979 to 1996, said Mr Healy. Some of the evidence concerning the sources of these payments had already been reviewed by the tribunal. "That evidence dealt with the immediate or ultimate source of these monies." It was now necessary to hear from Mr Haughey his views on how the monies were sourced.
A "voluminous correspondence" existed between the tribunal and the former Taoiseach, Mr Healy said. Documentation running to thousands of pages had been made available to Mr Haughey in addition to numerous letters seeking his assistance. The former Fianna Fail leader had argued the tribunal was not entitled to raise questions "in a piecemeal fashion". "The tribunal took a different view," its counsel said. Mr Haughey had been "written to on every occasion" for assistance concerning matters now subject to evidence.
"The tribunal now insists on his attendance to deal with matters arising in the course of the evidence it has gathered over the past year and a half." There was no suggestion that Mr Haughey would not give evidence, Mr Healy added.
The tribunal had written to request Mr Haughey to "provide some guidance" on the large amount of documentation it had made available "relating to payments made on his behalf for accounts or funds made available for his use".
These included:
A £750,000 AIB loan discharged on foot of a compromise agreement
Guinness & Mahon funds totalling £1,245,000
Some £330,000 in loans courtesy of the late Mr P.V. Doyle
£50,000 from Mr Fustok (Saudi Arabia)
£32,000 in bearer cheques from Mr Ben Dunne
£563,000 (sterling) in Cayman loans: £400,000 plus £68,000 interest and other liabilities £95,000
£217,000 (sterling) expenditure on Celtic Mist, Mr Haughey's yacht: purchase price, £120,000 plus £21,283 VAT plus repairs of £75,546
£353,000 through a nominee account at National City Brokers
£105,000 ACC loan paid off
£1.4 million in Haughey Boland billings 1985-91
£627,328 - John Stakelum billing service
£1,389,055 through the S9 and S8 Ansbacher accounts
£180,000 Dunne's Carlisle Trust payments
£580,774 in lodgements to National Irish Bank
£200,000 (sterling) from Wytrex, a Far Eastern company linked to Mr Ben Dunne.
Wytrex, it emerged, was set up in the mid-1980s to source textiles in the Far East for the Dunnes Stores group. Its profits went to Mr Ben Dunne personally. He drew £200,000 from the company every 12 to 18 months, he told the tribunal.
Mr Healy, in his opening statement, said much of the details obtained by the tribunal to date had come from "persons other than Mr Charles Haughey himself". In some cases, it had received assistance from his family. Mr Haughey and members of his family had facilitated access to some relevant bank accounts.