A FORMER general secretary of Fine Gael told the tribunal he had been asked by Mr Michael Lowry to ensure that a donation of Pounds 100,000 from Mr Ben Dunne to the party was kept confidential.
Mr Ivan Doherty told Mr Denise McCullough SC, for the tribunal, of receiving two payments from Mr Dunne. The first, for Pounds 50,000, was received in August, 1991, following a conversation between Mr Dunne and Mr John Bruton. The second, a cheque for Pounds 100,000, was received in May, 1993.
Mr Doherty lodged the cheque to his personal account and then issued a cheque for the same amount to the party account.
This cheque was drawn on an account named Public Relations and Research enterprise, which Mr Doherty said was dormant. There was no indication on the cheque that the money had come originally from Mr Dunne.
The decision on how to handle the payment had been made by him after it had been indicated that confidentiality should be applied to the payment.
Mr Doherty said Mr Lowry, who was chairman of the party at the time, had told him Mr Dunne was anxious the payment was kept confidential. The cheque came via the internal post of Leinster House, but he could not recall if it came from Mr Lowry's office or the party leader's. Nor could he recall exactly when the conversation with Mr Lowry about the need to keep the payment confidential had occurred, though it was probably prior to the receipt of the cheque.
The payment had occurred at a time when fund raising was a priority for the party, he said.
Earlier, Mr McCullough said he had been asked to point out, in relation to Monday's evidence, that Mr Paul Carty, in dealing with payments from the Ansbacher accounts, did so as an accountant with Haughey Boland and Co. The payments came to the company and not him.