A Saudi Arabian diplomat has written to the Moriarty tribunal saying a £50,000 (€63,500) payment he made to Charles Haughey in 1985 was for a horse or a share in a stallion.
The letter from Mahmoud Fustok, dated December 27th, 2005, was read out yesterday by Jacqueline O'Brien SC, for the tribunal. The tribunal resumed its hearings into the granting of passports in the early 1980s to a number of Lebanese and Palestinian people associated with Mr Fustok.
In his letter, the wealthy US- based horse-breeder said those who received the passports had all fled Lebanon in the 1970s and had been homeless. Some had subsequently worked for "Vincent O'Brien and the Mullens". One of those naturalised, Kamal Fustok, was his brother and was now married to an English woman, he said.
At the time he had been working with the Irish Government on an invitation to the king of Saudi Arabia to visit Ireland. The visit had resulted in economic benefits for Ireland, he said. At the time he had explained his brother's status "for the officials" and requested a favour, and it had been granted.
"Under no circumstances did any official in Ireland ask me for any financial gift or donation of any kind. The £50,000 mentioned in your letter, I am sure it was a purchase of a horse or a share in a stallion, I truly do not recall.
"I assure you everything was proper and legal. My friendship with the Irish official concerned was mainly for the promotion of the Irish economy."
Mr Fustok did not identify to whom he was referring. Mr Haughey has told the tribunal he sold a horse to Mr Fustok.
"I assure you that all the people who got their Irish citizenship approximately 25 years ago will cherish and honour it as long as they live," Mr Fustok said.
Requests from the tribunal to Mr Fustok to come to Ireland to give evidence have not been responded to. All the naturalisations being investigated by the tribunal were sponsored by former minister for health Dr John O'Connell, who knew Mr Fustok and who has already told the tribunal he conveyed the £50,000 to Mr Haughey from Mr Fustok.
Ms O'Brien said Dr O'Connell was receiving medical care in London but the tribunal still hoped he might attend to give evidence. Documentation on his condition has been sent to the tribunal.
Ms O'Brien said the tribunal had also received a fax from Slieman Moubarak, also in the US, who referred to evidence before Christmas concerning a view that his (successful) application for citizenship on residency grounds, in the early 1980s, may have been fraudulent.
He said the view was based on the fact that he had declared he had no children when applying for Irish citizenship, yet he had applied for citizenship for his daughter, Faten, a few years later.
"The explanation for this apparent untruth is simple. Shortly after my marriage, I divorced my wife, totally unaware of the fact that she was in the very early stages of pregnancy . . . Some years later I discovered that the daughter of that marriage was mine.
"I took full responsibility for her upbringing and applied for an Irish passport for her."
Mr Fustok in his letter said of Faten that "her full story is well known by Mr Haughey and Dr O'Connell". A naturalisation certificate was eventually issued to Faten on the direct instructions of Mr Haughey.
At the time it was believed the father, Slieman, had not been resident in Ireland as claimed at the time of his application.
John Olden, an assistant secretary in the Department of Justice in the early 1980s, told Ms O'Brien that a note he had put in a memo in December 1982 to then minister for justice Seán Doherty, concerning four naturalisation applications sponsored by Dr O'Connell, was the strongest stance he could take in a situation where he believed his minister was about to act outside his statutory discretion.
Mr Doherty ordered the immediate granting of the applications.
The tribunal adjourned until a date to be announced.