Hints of further disclosures on Tripleplan cheque

Twice yesterday counsel for the tribunal, Mr John Coughlan SC, hinted at more to come about the Tripleplan cheque; the Dunnes Stores (Bangor) cheque for sterling £282,500, dated May 20th 1982, which went to the benefit of Mr Charles Haughey.

During evidence where Mr Ben Dunne was outlining how he had no memory of the Tripleplan cheque before being told about it last year by the Moriarty tribunal, Mr Coughlan said he would "ask you about timing later".

Earlier, at the end of evidence from Mr Noel Fox, trustee to the Dunnes Settlement Trust and partner with Oliver Freaney & Co, auditors to many Dunnes companies, Mr Coughlan asked if Mr Fox could think of "anything significant which occurred in relation to the Dunnes group in early or mid-1987". Mr Fox said nothing occurred to him.

The tribunal is dealing with a number of payments from Mr Dunne to Mr Haughey which were not brought to the attention of the McCracken (Dunnes payments) tribunal. It is beginning with the Tripleplan cheque. The date on the cheque means that the dates surrounding the series of payments outlined to the McCracken tribunal must now be revised.

The McCracken tribunal heard that it was following an approach by the late Mr Des Traynor to Mr Fox, seeking funds for Mr Haughey, that a series of payments were initiated. The first was said to be a December 1987 payment of £185,000 sterling, and this dated the approach from Mr Traynor at around November of that year.

Now that it is known that the first payment occurred in May 1987, the approach from Mr Traynor must be put back to earlier that year. From evidence given by Mr Dunne yesterday, it is likely the approach happened two to three months before the first payment, i.e. around February 1987.

In January 1987 the then Labour-Fine Gael coalition collapsed and a general election was called. That election took place on February 17th, 1987, and it brought Fianna Fail back to power. On March 10th, 1987, Mr Haughey was elected Taoiseach.

On Thursday of last week counsel for the tribunal told of how between December 1979 and January 1980 Mr Traynor negotiated a deal with AIB in relation to a £1.143 million overdraft Mr Haughey had with the bank. The settlement involved a £750,000 payment and was agreed in January 1980. On December 7th, 1979, Mr Haughey had been elected leader of Fianna Fail and Taoiseach.

The McCracken tribunal heard evidence from the chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, Mr Cathal Mac Domhnaill. He said that in 1988 the Appeal Commissioners found in favour of the Dunnes trustees in relation to a tax assessment. It is believed the assessment was raised some time in 1987. Revenue took legal advice and decided not to appeal the decision, he said.

Evidence was heard at the McCracken tribunal about representations by Dunnes in relation to discretionary trust tax and capital gains tax, in 1991 and 1996, and which came to nothing. Mr Mac Domhnaill said Dunnes were "model taxpayers".

A former chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, Mr Philip Curran, told the McCracken tribunal of how in 1988 Mr Haughey called him to his office and asked if he would meet with Mr Dunne. Mr Curran said Mr Haughey told him "business was booming and Ben and the family were making an awful lot of money but that there was some problem they had about, I think it was about the family trust and the question of capital gains tax".

Mr Curran said he would have met Mr Dunne without any representation from Mr Haughey. At the meeting "Mr Dunne talked about the subject, the subject being the accumulating tax in the trust, so much so that at the end of these discussions it wasn't clear what he wanted". Mr Fox attended the meeting. Nothing is believed to have come of it.

Yesterday was a bad day for Mr Fox. He said he was "very embarrassed" by the fact that he had forgotten about the Tripleplan payment and not informed the McCracken tribunal about it. When Mr Coughlan said Mr Fox's testimony was "incredible" Mr Fox said that was unfair, that he had "wholly forgot". He had no reason to hide the payment.