Dunnes tribunal to call Irish bankers

THE first item on the agenda of the Dunnes Stores tribunal, which resumes on Monday, will concern whether Mr Ben Dunne's solicitor, Mr Noel Smyth, should be directed to give details of conversations he says he had with Mr Charles Haughey.

Most of the witnesses to be called are Irish bankers who will give evidence on the money trail left by the £1.3 million which Mr Dunne has said he paid to the former Taoiseach. Mr Haughey has written to the tribunal denying he received the money.

The money is known to have ended up in accounts in the Irish banks Guinness & Mahon and the Irish Intercontinental Bank. It is understood the tribunal, since adjourning in April, has made some progress in tracing the money's later movements.

It is thought unlikely Mr Haughey will be called until all the evidence in matters allegedly concerning him has been heard. But if court proceedings pursued by the tribunal in the Cayman Islands look likely to continue, Mr Haughey might be called near the end of July.

In such an event, he might then be recalled once the Cayman Islands proceedings were concluded.

A reserved decision from the Caymans Grand Court on whether the tribunal should be allowed hear evidence from bankers there has not yet been given. The bankers are or were connected with Ansbacher, a bank in the Cayman Islands. The accounts in Guinness and Mahon and Irish Intercontinental Bank, into which the money paid out by Mr Dunne ended up, were controlled by Ansbacher.

A director of Ansbacher at the time, Mr John Furze, contested the tribunal's right to hear evidence in the Caymans during the in camera hearings in the Grand Court.

Depending on the Grand Court decision, there may be an appeal by Mr Furze or the tribunal. This would be heard by an appeal court comprising three Jamaican judges and could take months.

During its adjournment the tribunal began proceedings in the Cayman Islands and heard evidence in camera from bankers in London. The money trail concerning the payments made by Mr Dunne involves British banks. Transcripts of this evidence will be laid before the tribunal in Dublin when it reconvenes. This will happen soon after the transcripts become available, probably late next week or the following week.

Also the tribunal has been told that a £261,000 overdraft which Mr Haughey had in an account in Guinness & Mahon (Ireland) in 1987 had been paid off from Guinness Mahon & Co (London), formerly the parent company of Guinness & Mahon (Ireland). The London bank has given evidence to the tribunal.

Legal argument concerning whether Mr Dunne's solicitor, Mr Smyth, should divulge the details of conversations he had with Mr Haughey may be completed on the first day of the resumed hearing. In April the tribunal heard from Mr Smyth that he had had five conversations with Mr Haughey concerning the alleged payments. He said that while he was not Mr Haughey's solicitor he believed Mr Haughey had spoken to him in confidence.

A statement which Mr Smyth had written concerning the conversations and which he had sealed and posted to himself, was delivered to Mr Haughey in April. Mr Haughey is represented by Mr Eoin McGonigal SC in relation to confidentiality.

The tribunal's other priority will be the payments Mr Dunne made to the former Fine Gael deputy and minister, Mr Michael Lowry TD. Mr Lowry and several others will give evidence on this.