INVESTIGATIONS in the Irish and London banking systems have allowed the tribunal to link payments made by Mr Ben Dunne to Mr Charles Haughey. Mr Haughey's counsel said the former Taoiseach accepted "as a matter of probability" that he was the beneficiary of the money.
The tribunal was told yesterday that the Ansbacher deposit account at Guinness Mahon Ireland was the end destination for almost Pounds 1.1 million of the money. The remaining Pounds 210,000 ended up in an Ansbacher account in the Irish Intercontinental Bank.
The tribunal was told that evidence would be given that funds were drawn from the Ansbacher account in Guinness Mahon to pay some of Mr Haughey's living expenses and that Pounds 105,000 went to pay off a loan on his behalf: In this way, the tribunal's investigations have made the link between the payments made by Mr Dunne to Mr Haughey.
In all, Mr Dunne made five payments, which he alleged were for the benefit of Mr Haughey.
The first four payments - totalling just over Pounds 1 million sterling or about Pounds 1.1 million in Irish pounds - followed a similar path through various bank accounts in Dublin and London. All four ended up in a special account held by the Cayman Islands bank Ansbacher at Guinness Mahon Ireland as had been made clear from the tribunal's earlier hearings.
The tribunal heard yesterday that evidence would be given that this money was held in the so-called "Ansbacher Deposits", which was a general fund, at times holding up to Pounds 30 million or Pounds 40 million on behalf of a number of Irish residents.
These accounts were run by Mr Haughey's former accountant, Mr Des Traynor, who ran Guinness Mahon in Ireland for many years and set up its operation in the Cayman Islands, which was subsequently bought by Ansbacher.
After Mr Traynor died, his associate, Mr Padraig Collery, managed the accounts.
Mr Traynor and Mr Collery were said to have maintained these accounts in secrecy. Guinness Mahon did not know the names of the individuals, according to Mr Den is McCullough counsel for the tribunal. Considerable steps were taken to protect the money trail and the accounts were "effectively offshore".
Each individual's share of the accounts was denoted by letters and numbers. For example: Mr Haughey's accounts included 58 and 59, a sterling and deutschmark account respectively, according to evidence which Mr Collery would give.
The key to tracing the money is that the tribunal has powers to seek information in Ireland and to request or subpoena the relevant banking records or testimony. If the money had been held in the Cayman Islands, the job would have been a lot more difficult.
It is not clear exactly how the tribunal uncovered the secret accounts and linked them to Mr Haughey, but obviously the evidence obtained from Mr Collery and Irish banking records have been crucial.
Before it adjourned, the tribunal had heard that Pounds 1.1 million had been traced to the Ansbacher account in Guinness Mahon and Pounds 210,000 to a Cayman Islands account in Irish Intercontinental Bank.
The key breakthrough is that subsequent investigations uncovered the nature of the Ansbacher Deposits in Guinness Mahon. And the tribunal will hear evidence that Mr Haughey was one of the beneficiaries of the money held in these deposits.
Among the evidence the tribunal will hear is that Pounds 105,000 was used to pay off a loan Mr Haughey had with ACC Bank. In addition, Mr Traynor, and later Mr Collery, made regular and substantial payments from the Ansbacher Deposits to accountants at Haughey Boland, who discharged Mr Haughey's personal living expenses.
"That evidence will show that Mr Traynor made regular and substantial payments to Mr Paul Carty, who is an accountant with Haughey Boland and Company in Dublin, and these payments were subsequently used by Mr Carty to pay various bills and expenses of Mr Charles J Haughey," Mr McCullough said.
In 1991, another accountant, Mr Jack Stakelum, took over from Mr Carty, and from that time payments were made from Mr Traynor to him and "he discharged Mr Haughey's bills". Mr Stakelum kept a chequebook and detailed records of all these accounts.
In addition, the accounts provided cash and backing for loans totalling Pounds 350,000 to Celtic Helicopters, in which Mr Haughey's son, Ciaran, has a substantial interest.