Supermarket boss a 'broken man' in 1993

Moriarty tribunal: The former supermarket boss Ben Dunne has said he was mad, broken and suicidal in 1993.

Mr Dunne told senior counsel John Coughlan, for the tribunal, about a note of a conversation from June 1993 during which Mr Dunne made a number of threats aimed at his siblings and the Dunne family trust. Mr Dunne referred to the threats as "commercial terrorism".

He said at the time he had "done my legs in, and had that trouble in America. I was very unbalanced to say the least; suicidal. I had nearly killed myself twice. I would like the tribunal to understand how broken and sick a man I was."

After Mr Dunne had been removed from the board of Dunnes Stores in 1993, following a proposal by his brother Frank Dunne, Mr Dunne contacted a trustee, Bernard Uniacke, by telephone. Mr Uniacke took a note and later reported to Frank Dunne. Mr Dunne said that before making the call, he had spoken with his solicitor, Noel Smyth.

Mr Dunne told Mr Uniacke he would be seeking the appointment of an inspector to Dunnes Stores under the Companies Act.

"Part of his evidence will refer to the payment of £1 million paid to a member of the previous government to influence legislation affecting the trust," Mr Uniacke wrote.

Mr Dunne told Mr Coughlan this was a reference to payments to Charles Haughey but that in fact the payments were not designed to influence legislation. He said the point was in part made "to get Fox in trouble".

Noel Fox was a trustee and the person through whom requests for money from Mr Haughey were channelled to Mr Dunne.

Mr Uniacke's note also recorded Mr Dunne as saying he would reveal details of payments from Hong Kong, even though he was the prime mover behind these payments. This was a reference to Dunnes Stores money that was paid to companies in Hong Kong and then sent to offshore bank accounts. This was an attempt to "draw all the members of the family into it".

The note also said Mr Dunne said he had a sworn affidavit from an internal accountant of Dunnes Stores concerning the dissipation of funds within the group to members of staff.

Mr Dunne said the bulk of what was in the note was correct. However, the reference to the affidavit from the internal auditor was not correct, and neither was the reference to influencing legislation.