Gardai inquiring into the changing of the statement of a key witness in the 1970 Arms Trial have interviewed several officers who were centrally involved in the case.
The men were interviewed as part of the search for an authoritative explanation as to why and by whom the Garda statement of the former head of Military Intelligence, Col Michael Hefferon, was changed before it was put into the book of evidence. References to the then minister for defence being aware of the plan to import arms were in the Garda statement, but not in the version included in the book of evidence.
The then minister for justice, Mr Desmond O'Malley, suggested this week that these changes were made for legal reasons in accordance with the rules of evidence.
His explanation is disputed by one of the defendants in the case, Capt James Kelly, who says they were made in order to protect Mr Gibbons and to damage the defendants.
All four defendants, Capt Kelly, Mr Charles Haughey, Mr John Kelly and Mr Albert Luykx, were acquitted of charges of conspiring to import arms illegally.
The officers who led the 1970 investigation and took witness statements are now retired, but some are believed to have spoken to gardai conducting the present inquiry.
The Garda Commissioner is expected to submit the outcome of his inquiry into the affair to the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, within days. The Attorney General, Mr Michael McDowell, is also working on a report on the matter.