The former chairman of the Bank of Scotland, Phil Flynn, has called on the Government to state publicly that he is innocent of charges being made against him. However, a spokesman for the Government said there would be "no comment on anything surrounding these issues".
Mr Flynn was speaking to The Irish Times following a statement in the House of Lords on Monday by Ulster Unionist Lord Laird, who linked Mr Flynn to the raids last week in Manchester and Dundalk. Lord Laird said that "much of the information for the raids came from a raid on premises owned by Mr Phil Flynn and, in particular, a notebook that contained detailed financial information of senior people in Irish society, including those who support Sinn Féin/IRA".
The raids in Dundalk and Manchester are part of inquiries into the assets of the alleged IRA leader, Thomas "Slab" Murphy.
Mr Flynn, who was vice-president of Sinn Féin in the 1980s, described Lord Laird's comments as lies and called on him to repeat the comments outside the House of Lords, where they are covered by privilege.
"It's time my Government stood up and made a statement about all of this. They know it's lies," he said.
Mr Flynn said he did not know Mr Murphy and had never met him. He also said he had never met Mr Murphy's brother, Frank, or businessman Brian Pepper.
The raids in Manchester last week were linked to property in Manchester owned by Frank Murphy and managed by a company part-owned by Mr Pepper. "There's nothing relating to them in my office or in my home," Mr Flynn said.
Lord Laird said he always talked about "these important affairs" in the House of Lords where they could be put on the record. The peer said he was not prepared to do anything at the behest of "a former vice-president of Sinn Féin/IRA".
Mr Flynn said the repeated comments about him in the House of Lords by Lord Laird were putting his life in danger and were totally without foundation.
He expected the Government to state this at some stage.