It was another day of Czechs and balances at the Flood tribunal yesterday as Liam Lawlor's business dealings in Prague and bank accounts at home continued to frustrate lawyers.
Of the former, we learned little. The Dublin West TD stood on his refusal to answer questions he believed unrelated to the terms of reference, and the identity of his Czech mates remained a secret. But in a novel twist to the evidence he did reveal a cheque mate nearer home.
The revelation came during the angriest exchanges, as counsel queried the fate of a £38,000 order paid to Lawlor by lobbyist Frank Dunlop. The witness thought he'd brought it to a bank, but unable to name the bank, changed his mind and suggested he cashed it "in a pub".
Pat Murphy of the Sarsfield Bar in Inchicore was a "good friend" and farmed Mr Lawlor's land. Giving him the £38,000 might have been convenient: "Pat would be out walking the land, checking the cattle" and "he would give me £5,000 or £10,000" and the rest later.
This provoked laughter from the packed public gallery, and the heat of earlier exchanges dissipated further when Mr Lawlor explained how his background in refrigeration led him to advise an engineering company on a fish cold store in Nigeria.
The project never materialised, but it explained why Mr Lawlor used the company's paper for fake invoices in respect of political donations totalling £74,000 from National Toll Roads.
After a time, Mr Justice Flood invited the witness to "come back from Nigeria". But on the issue of his earlier refusal to answer questions, the chairman said he would simply "note" this and reserve his position till a future date. With that, the matter was placed in cold storage.
