Tribunal may have limited interest in Turner

The Mahon tribunal may have limited interest in co-operation from the British businessman Norman Turner, who is now based in Switzerland.

The tribunal is not investigating the Sonas casino project which Mr Turner spearheaded here during the 1990s, and is precluded from doing so as a result of a Supreme Court decision which prevents the tribunal from initiating new public inquiries.

From a statement made by tribunal counsel Des O'Neill SC last year, it seems the tribunal has been seeking to get information from Mr Turner for some time.

It is not clear why this was so, though it may have been in relation to private or preliminary inquiries into the casino project, inquiries which cannot now be developed as a result of the Supreme Court decision. Mr Turner's name came up during the evidence of Des Richardson, the former Fianna Fáil fundraiser and close associate of Bertie Ahern, in November.

Mr Richardson said Mr Turner had given him an envelope containing $10,000 in cash, as a confidential donation to Fianna Fáil, during a "liquid lunch" in Manchester in 1994. When Mr Richardson said Mr O'Neill should "feel free to ask Mr Turner" about it, Mr O'Neill replied: "Unfortunately correspondence over years with Mr Turner has not proved productive."

A spokesman for Mr Ahern said yesterday the Taoiseach first learned about Mr Turner's $10,000 payment when it was mentioned in evidence by Mr Richardson.