Moriarty tribunal: A former adviser to Ben Dunne said he was aware payments were being made to Charles Haughey in 1987 while negotiations were taking place with the chairman of the Revenue, Séamus Páircéir.
Noel Fox said "exploratory talks" with Mr Páircéir concerning the tax concerns of the Dunne family trust were under way at the time.
The talks with Mr Páircéir were initiated following a request from Mr Haughey, the then taoiseach, to Mr Páircéir, that he meet with Mr Dunne.
Mr Páircéir held a number of meetings with Mr Dunne and Mr Fox in May and July 1987. Payments to Mr Haughey from Mr Dunne had begun in February 1987.
Mr Fox said he was aware of the evidence that was given to the 1997 McCracken (Dunnes Payments) tribunal concerning a 1988 meeting between Mr Dunne and the then chairman of the Revenue, Philip Curran.
That meeting was also arranged following Mr Haughey's intervention. The 1997 tribunal was not told about the earlier meetings with Mr Páircéir.
Mr Fox told John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, that he accepted the content of Revenue notes concerning meetings he and Mr Dunne had with Mr Páircéir prior to Mr Páircéir's retirement.
He said he had no recall of the meetings. He also accepted that payments to Mr Haughey, of which he was aware, were taking place at the same time as the discussions were taking place with Mr Páircéir in relation to the trust and its tax affairs.
Following his retirement in September 1987, Mr Páircéir began working as a consultant and in time was engaged by Mr Dunne.
Mr Fox said Mr Páircéir did not reveal any confidential information to Dunnes concerning the Revenue's attitude to the case.
Mr Fox said he suggested to Mr Dunne that Mr Páircéir be taken on as a tax consultant; he had heard in accountancy circles that Mr Páircéir was acting as a consultant following his retirement from the Revenue in September 1987.
In 1988 the trust was awaiting a hearing before the Appeal Commissioners concerning a £38.8 million capital gains tax bill that had been issued two years earlier. Mr Fox said he suggested to Mr Dunne that Mr Páircéir would "look at our side of the issue".
He agreed with Mr Coughlan that he was aware that Mr Páircéir, when chairman of the Revenue, had been involved in the case. Mr Coughlan suggested that Mr Páircéir could have given an insight into the Revenue's thinking on the case.
"No," said Mr Fox. "I am sure he would not have done that, nor would we have asked him."
Mr Fox said his firm, Oliver Freaney & Co, was doing due diligence on the case at the time and Mr Páircéir was asked to review issues such as case law and the statutes. "I don't think anything new arose from it."
Mr Fox reviewed the paper produced by Mr Páircéir. He did not, he said, mention the matter to his fellow trustees. Mr Páircéir was paid by Mr Dunne and not the trust, as Mr Dunne had personally engaged Mr Páircéir, Mr Fox said. The trustees had not engaged Mr Páircéir in any capacity.
He told Hugh O'Neill SC, for the trust, that he did not feel he was putting Mr Páircéir in a position of conflict. "If Mr Páircéir had seen any conflict he would have said so and that would be the end of the issue." Mr Páircéir had begun work for Dunnes one year after his retirement and there was nothing secretive about this. He had approached the Revenue on behalf of the Dunnes company, Mr Fox said.
