Over almost 20 years, Mr George Redmond received unsolicited payments from "entrepreneurs" who came to him for advice, the former assistant Dublin city and county manager told the tribunal.
However, only a small proportion of those he advised in his own time were "generous" and the bulk of the advice he gave went unpaid. He claimed there was no conflict of interest between this and his work as a senior official.
Mr Pat Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, revealed that Mr Redmond (75) had at least 33 bank accounts, many of them opened in two Irish variations of his name. The amounts in them varied, with some having substantial sums.
Mr Redmond, who is facing separate criminal charges for failing to make tax returns over 10 years, said not all the advice he gave related to land. Some concerned investing in stocks or tax matters.
Making his first appearance in the witness box, the retired official appeared dapper and confident. However, there were long pauses when he was asked whether he had other sources of income apart from his official salary.
Mr Redmond at first declined to answer the question, but when Mr Justice Flood reminded him that doing so could land him in jail for up to two years, he asked for a break to consider matters. He eventually agreed that he had received payments, although he insisted he always "put the council first".
His evidence failed to produce the fireworks some had expected, mainly because it is confined to the allegations made against him by Mr James Gogarty, the former executive with the Murphy group.
Ironically, the witness has much in common with Mr Gogarty: both are elderly men with a clear mastery of detail and a comprehensive knowledge of planning regulations.
Mr Redmond opened his evidence by recalling a lifetime's career in Dublin Corporation, from his entry as a clerk in 1941 until his retirement as assistant Dublin city and county manager in June 1989. In the latter role, through the 1980s, he had no official role in planning matters.
There was more than a touch of Louis XIV to Mr Redmond's self-image: "I was the council; I had the powers," he declared.
Everything he did was on behalf of the council; even the advice he proffered to the people who turned up at his office was "twisted" to the council's benefit.
And like Louis XIV, Mr Redmond assembled vast tracts of land to create parks and gardens. During his time as assistant county manager, Mr Redmond declared with swelling pride, more than 4,500 acres of parks were created in Ardgillan, Newbridge, Tymon and other areas of Co Dublin.
When Mr Gogarty joined the supplicants and discussed the Murphy lands with him, Mr Redmond decided they were "lands to be remembered".
He drew up a report for Mr Gogarty outlining their planning status. He said he did this for the benefit of the council. Yet no one else in his office was informed of the work and no copy of the report has been found.
Subsequently, he met Mr Gogarty and the chief executive of the Murphy group, the late Mr Liam Conroy. Mr Conroy expressed his gratitude for Mr Redmond's work and said he would "send him something".
A cheque for £2,000 - substantially more than Mr Redmond's monthly salary at the time - duly arrived. After some delay, he lodged the money, possibly in his account in the Ulster Bank near the airport (the same bank as that used by Mr Ray Burke). Mr Redmond never wrote back to express his thanks, something he attributed yesterday to a "lack of courtesy".
The chairman, however, suggested it may have been because he did not feel it was proper to take the money. Mr Redmond said he had done nothing inappropriate. ail Public Accounts Committee, The tribunal has set itself a time limit of five weeks to complete hearing the evidence of the remaining witnesses related to the Gogarty allegations. However, few observers believe this can be achieved.
There were clear signs yesterday that the antagonisms which marred and delayed proceedings before the summer are still alive.
Mr Justice Flood repeated his warnings about the failure of anyone to allow a "full, frank disclosure of evidence" to operate and pleaded yet again for a non-adversarial approach by all.
However, counsel for the Murphys and for the Bailey brothers were on their feet within minutes to complain about remarks made about them by the chairman on an earlier occasion. Even Mr Redmond's evidence was going more slowly than expected, as the witness explored some of the more arcane aspects of planning law in great detail. Mr Redmond said he did not want to spend "the rest of my life here" but the chairman showed little interest in his offer to "give evidence until 5 o'clock on Sundays".
The tribunal resumes at 10.30 a.m. today.