Inquiry on `missing' £75,000 FF donation

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, only learned this week that £75,000 of £100,000 given by a property developer to Mr Charles Haughey at the time of the 1989 general election was not passed on to Fianna Fail, according to party sources.

Mr Ahern was told some years later, probably in 1996, that the donor, Mr Mark Kavanagh, had complained of not receiving an acknowledgment for the money, but was never told the amount involved, the sources said. Mr Ahern, by then party leader, was simply told a "substantial amount" was involved.

Mr Kavanagh is managing director of the Hardwicke property development group, which was part of the consortium which built the Irish Financial Services Centre.

The Moriarty tribunal is investigating what happened to the £100,000 given to Mr Haughey, £25,000 of which was apparently intended for the 1989 fund raised for the late Mr Brian Lenihan.

Sources said that in 1996, when the then party fund-raiser, Mr Eoin Ryan snr, sought a donation from Mr Kavanagh, he complained of not getting a receipt for his 1989 donation. No amount was mentioned, according to sources. Mr Kavanagh would not comment yesterday and Mr Ryan could not be contacted.

An inquiry was carried out by Fianna Fail. It discovered a cheque for £25,000 was recorded in the party's books in 1989. The party apologised to Mr Kavanagh over the receipt but again no amount was mentioned. Mr Kavanagh then made another donation, understood to have been £50,000.

He is likely to be called to give evidence before the tribunal next week in relation to his 1989 donation.

It is understood he made the donation directly to Mr Haughey following an approach from Mr Paul Kavanagh, the then party fund-raiser, who sought £100,000. The party had debts of about £1.5 million at the time.

The donation reportedly consisted of one cheque, made out to Fianna Fail for £25,000, and three bank drafts for similar amounts and made out to bearer. It is not known why the donation came in this form. The cheque was passed on to Fianna Fail and Mr Haughey, according to sources, asked that the receipt be made out to "anonymous". Mr Kavanagh is expected to tell the tribunal he never received the receipt.

It is not known if the tribunal has found evidence of any of the money being lodged to the ail party leader's account, which was controlled by Mr Haughey and into which some, at least, of the donations made towards the Lenihan fund were placed.

In 1989 the amount lodged to the account was approximately £200,000 more than the party leader's allowance paid that year. Withdrawals for Mr Lenihan's medical expenses totalled approximately £80,000. Evidence was heard last year of how a £20,000 cheque for the Lenihan fund, from the Irish Permanent Building Society, was lodged to an account of Celtic Helicopters.