Mr Michael Lowry has been formally cautioned in relation to his financial affairs by the Revenue Commissioners, it emerged at the Moriarty tribunal yesterday.
Mr Lowry made reference to that fact while being questioned by counsel for the tribunal about an offshore account set up in his name in 1996 by his friend, the late Mr David Austin.
During his evidence, Mr Lowry said he was very conscious of the presence in the body of the tribunal of officials from the Revenue Commissioners with whom he was dealing and with whom he was "under caution".
"I think I must have some constitutional right in relation to the evidence I give on taxation matters, particularly in regard to the fact that information already given at this tribunal has been used against me in another forum."
Mr Donal O'Donnell, for Mr Lowry, said the tribunal was aware that these were matters of "some delicacy".
His client had been formally cautioned and evidence taken at the tribunal had been used in respect of "other matters".
He pointed out that "voluntary disclosure" was made by Mr Lowry in May 1997, after this account was closed.
Responding to the submission, the chairman, Mr Justice Moriarty, said that the tax affairs of Mr Lowry were not within the remit of the tribunal, but the circumstances which had arisen had made it "essential" that the tribunal inquire "with some particularity" into all the circumstances over this period. Insofar as some tax considerations might obtrude, the tribunal had to examine these "overall circumstances" carefully.
He was entirely of the view that the tribunal was not concerned with advancing or dealing with any proceedings, applications or investigations being conducted by the Revenue Commissioners.
During four hours of questioning by Mr Jerry Healy SC, for the tribunal, Mr Lowry repeatedly said he did not believe the account set up in his name in Irish Nationwide (Isle of Man) in late September 1996 was "relevant" to his accountants, his solicitors or the Revenue at that time.
He had received no benefit from it, and the money had been repaid, with interest, just over three months later. When he had realised that it was relevant, he disclosed it to the tribunal in April this year.
A sum of £147,000 was transferred to the account by the late Mr Austin in 1996. Mr Austin obtained a draft in his own name from his account with Bank of Ireland in Jersey and sent that draft to an official at the Irish Nationwide (IOM) for lodgment to Mr Lowry's account, the tribunal heard.
The money, Mr Lowry repeated yesterday, was intended for use for the refurbishment of the house at 43 Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin. It was a loan, at commercial rates. Yet the handwritten document drawn up by Mr Austin in October 1997, bearing the details of the loan, was a private document, which Mr Lowry kept in a personal file. It was "an agreement between friends", he said.
The total sum repaid was £148,816.93 in 1997. The transfer of that sum to Mr Austin had absolutely nothing to do with the setting up of the McCracken tribunal around the same time, Mr Lowry insisted.