Last December, a week after Charles Haughey opened a High Court challenge to the Moriarty tribunal, its chairman told the Government he was still working to a deadline of July 31st, 1998. Mr Justice Moriarty, in an interim report, said 32 orders of discovery had been served, mainly against banks and other financial institutions. "In the case of one such institution it proved necessary to examine in excess of 13,000 documents, and the volume of documents furnished in general terms has been extremely extensive."
The tribunal had carried out detailed interviews with representatives of a number of these institutions and parties, Mr Justice Moriarty reported. The tribunal hoped to resume public hearings in the new year and to furnish its report by July 1998.
Now, a year later, the tribunal is still hoping to resume public hearings in 1999. It is investigating the finances of Mr Haughey and the former Fine Gael minister, Michael Lowry. It is also inquiring into any links between the Ansbacher deposits and politicians, but not into the Ansbacher deposits generally. The tribunal is not charged with publicly identifying the people who had money in the Ansbacher deposits.
To date the tribunal, which was established in September last year, has cost £1,462,000 in legal fees and administration costs. Two senior counsel, John Coughlan and Jerry Healy, are working full-time and being paid £1,350 a day. Jacqueline O'Brien BL is being paid £900 a day. Research counsel, Maire Moriarty BL and Brian McGuckian BL, are being paid £350 and £300 a day respectively.
When the tribunal finishes its work the parties which have been granted representation before it will seek their costs. As yet no provision has been made for these.
In April Mr Haughey failed in a High Court challenge and appealed that decision to the Supreme Court. In July the Supreme Court rejected the former Taoiseach's "root and branch" assault on the tribunal. However, the court quashed 36 orders of discovery made by the tribunal against financial institutions, and said Mr Haughey and his family had a right to be informed about such orders in advance and a right to make representations.
The tribunal has had to reissue its orders, taking into account the Supreme Court's ruling on procedure, and issuing a separate order for each person. Work on this began after the summer, and the bulk of the required documentation has now been handed over.
At this stage the tribunal has amassed a huge amount of material. It has interviewed, in private but under oath, two of the figures linked with the operation of the Ansbacher deposits, Joan Williams and Padraic Collery. The tribunal is working on identifying all the persons who had funds in the deposits so as to establish if any of them made payments to Mr Haughey. All depositors identified are likely to be interviewed.
A wide trawl of the banking network has been initiated, and all major financial institutions have been asked to supply any information they hold about accounts belonging to Mr Haughey and Mr Lowry. As part of a line of inquiry begun in January, an order of discovery was served on the Minister for Finance for files on exchange controls and decisions taken in this regard between 1954 and 1992.
Inquiries are under way into payments allegedly made to Mr Haughey by Patrick Gallagher, the former property developer. He has said in a newspaper interview that he contributed to Mr Haughey's finances. The late P.V. Doyle, founder of the Doyle hotel group, is also understood to have made contributions to Mr Haughey's finances.
The tribunal has met Paul Carty, the managing partner with Deloitte and Touche. That company handled Mr Haughey's finances for many years and has been asked to submit documentation to the tribunal. That documentation is currently being prepared for submission. Jack Stakelum, whose company Business Enterprise Ltd was also involved in handling the Haughey finances, has authorised the handing over to the Moriarty tribunal of documents he gave to the McCracken tribunal.
The tribunal has sought files from the Department of Justice on the passports-for-investment scheme. It will examine whether Mr Haughey had any involvement in granting a passport to a foreign citizen, and whether he received any payment for any such involvement.
Dunnes Stores is in continuing contact with the tribunal. It has informed the tribunal of payments totalling approximately £500,000 which have characteristics similar to those investigated by the McCracken tribunal, but which were not investigated by that tribunal.
In one instance, £180,000 was lodged in an account of the property company, Carlisle Trust. This is one of the main companies of the multi-millionaire developer, John Byrne. Dunnes is also assisting the tribunal about payments to Mr Lowry and his company, Garuda, which supplies refrigeration services to Dunnes.
What other inquiries are being made by the tribunal are likely to emerge in time. The tribunal's work on Mr Lowry's finances is understood to be near completion. He is said to be anxious to have the tribunal sit and conclude its work but fears that a further legal action by Mr Haughey could delay matters even further.
