Mr Joseph Murphy jnr came to question the bona fides of both Mr Dermot Ahern and the Taoiseach, following their investigations into allegations of payments to Mr Ray Burke, he told the Flood tribunal, under cross-examination.
Mr Dermot Ahern's appearance on Questions & Answers on RTE on September 15th, 1996 when the Minister said he had had no contact with Mr Murphy since meeting him in London on June 24th, 1996 had prompted the JMSE chairman to write the following memo concerning the Dundalk TD and his leader: "I do not trust him as such and believe he and Bertie are on a `sweep it under the carpet' mission."
He had taken exception to the fact that Mr Dermot Ahern had said he had had no further contact with him, said Mr Hugh Mohan, BL, counsel for Mr Ahern. Yet Mr Murphy had himself failed to correct the record, he suggested, after meeting the Fianna Fail TD in a restaurant on July 1st - and subsequently getting confirmation from JMSE's former financial director, Mr Roger Copsey, that a political contribution of some kind had been made.
"On the very day you met him you knew it stank to high heaven," he said. Mr Murphy rejected this.
Could he not have phoned Mr Ahern to appraise him of the fact that he had become aware that there was some kind of political contribution, according to Mr Copsey, and that he was investigating further?
Mr Murphy said he was primarily concerned with protecting the reputation of the company and was involved in legal consultations at the time in relation to newspaper reports.
But why had he not taken five minutes to contact him that day, Mr Mohan asked. He had personal problems and a business to run, Mr Murphy responded.
Mr Mohan referred him to a memo of a conversation that took place between Mr Copsey and Mr McArdle on June 8th, 1989, instructing the solicitor to draw two cheques for cash, one for £20,000 and the other for £10,000. "What did you think when you saw that document?" "It was the final piece in the jig-saw."