Mr Ciaran Haughey told the Moriarty tribunal yesterday he was not aware that Dr John O'Connell ever invested in his company, Celtic Helicopters.
Dr O'Connell, a former Fianna Fail minister for health, said on Tuesday that Mr Haughey's father had sought a £5,000 contribution for the company in 1985, which he later discovered entitled him to shares.
But Mr Haughey, the company secretary, said he had no record of the investment. He also said he never directly or indirectly sought an investment from anyone by way or shares or a loan.
He said, however, that Celtic Helicopters asked Mr Des Traynor, Mr Charles Haughey's financial adviser, to raise money from investors for the firm. Mr Traynor raised £290,329 in 19921993, mainly from five businessmen. Their investment was entrusted in a company called Mars Nominees Ltd.
This money was for a period presented in Celtic Helicopters accounts as a loan rather than share capital, which Mr an Haughey admitted was an error.
In relation to Dr O'Connell, he said the first he knew of his alleged investment in the firm was when he received a letter from Dr O'Connell's solicitors in March 1992.
The letter asked for a share certificate to be sent to Dr O'Connell as soon as possible, and that Mr Haughey reply no later than March 11th.
(Dr O'Connell had said this was a device to get Mr Haughey's father to pay him £15,000 for his shares.)
Mr Haughey said he discussed the matter with his father as Dr O'Connell was known to him.
"I was not aware of any discussions which Dr O'Connell alleges took place between himself and my father in relation to his alleged shareholding in the company. My father said he would look into the matter and I left it at that."
He did not hear from his father or from Dr O'Connell's solicitors and presumed the matter had been resolved.
Mr Haughey said that around that time Mars Nominees Ltd was in the process of transferring its shareholding in Celtic Helicopters to another investment company, MS Nominees Ltd.
He believed the claim made by Dr O'Connell's solicitors "was settled as part of the restructuring of the transfer of the shares from Mars Nominees Ltd to MS Nominees". Mr Haughey said he thought Dr O'Connell might have been a Mars investor, although he was not sure as the identities of all the investors had been kept from him.
In preparing for the tribunal he saw a £5,000 investment had been made in Mars, and he surmised this corresponded with the £5,000 mentioned in the letter from Dr O'Connell's solicitors.
Mr Haughey confirmed that he and Mr John Barnacle, a co-director of Celtic Helicopters, asked Mr Traynor to help them raise capital. The £290,329 raised represented the investment of Mr Michael Murphy, Mr John Byrne, Mr Xavier McAuliffe, Mr Pat Butler and Mr Guy Snowden.
He knew Mr Butler as the owner of Butler Engineering, which "by coincidence" had been contracted to provide steel for new hangars being built by Celtic Helicopters. Mr Haughey said he knew Mr McAuliffe as a keen aviation enthusiast and from his involvement in hotels in Co Kerry. Mr Byrne was a friend of the family and an aviation enthusiast. Mr Murphy was Celtic Helicopters' insurance broker.
Mr Haughey said "over the years we had built up a good working relationship with Mr Murphy and we came to know each other socially."
Mr Haughey said Mr Traynor, and not he, had solicited investment from these people, with the possible exception of Mr Murphy.
"I personally didn't ask Mr Murphy for an investment but we would have discussed the company's ongoing situation from time to time. I probably would have made Mr Murphy aware that we were seeking investment."
Mr Haughey, in his statement, continued: "I confirm that Mr Traynor told me that Mr Michael Murphy's investment was for the sum of £100,000 and I understood that this was represented by the cheque drawn on the account of Carlisle Trust Ltd in the sum of £100,000." He had no knowledge of Carlisle Trust and assumed Mr Murphy was in some way connected to the company.
It was into a Carlisle Trust account that three Dunnes Stores cheques totalling £180,000 were lodged in November 1992. Two cheques were subsequently withdrawn from the account, one for £100,000 made payable to Celtic Helicopters and the other for £80,000 made out to cash.
Mr Haughey said he lodged the cheque from the Carlisle Trust account on November 27th, 1992. The first time he heard of Carlisle Trust was in the course of the investigation into Celtic Helicopters by the Tanaiste's appointee, Mr Gerry Ryan.
Mr Haughey confirmed that Celtic Helicopters had sought to convince Smurfit Finance Bank in 1996 that the £290,329 investment in the company was not a loan but that it represented shares. This followed the bank's demand that it would only approve a new loan for the company if the £290,329 was represented by shares.
On February 15th, 1996, Celtic Helicopters wrote to its accountants Deloitte & Touche. The letter read: "Please prepare the documentation necessary to convert the existing loan in the amount of IR£290,239 (sic) into non-cumulative preference shares of IR£1 each."
Mr Haughey admitted Celtic Helicopters never had a loan of £290,329. He had "probably not" read the document carefully before sending it, and the sum "was always to be considered share capital."
Counsel for the tribunal, Mr Jerry Healy SC, said: "It's all a little bit careless, at least, isn't it, on your part?"
Mr Haughey replied: "I'd have to say that's a matter of opinion."
Mr Haughey added that Deloitte & Touche prepared the documentation.
The letter was accompanied by a letter of enclosure dated February 14th, 1996, from Larchfield Securities, Kinsealy, Co Dublin. It was addressed to the directors of Celtic Helicopters and read: "We refer to a loan in the amount of £290,329 which we advanced to the company in 1991. We now give irrevocable instruction that the loan be converted into preference share capital as soon as possible."
Mr Haughey accepted the money came into Larchfield, which was holding it in trust for Mars Nominees Ltd, in 1992-1993 rather than 1991, and also that it was never a loan but an investment.
On March 29th 1996, Celtic Helicopters issued 290,329 non-cumulative preference shares at £1 each to Mars Nominees.
Mr Haughey originally said Mr Murphy had been issued with a certificate in respect of his holding of 100,000 shares. However, he then said he wished to correct his evidence at a later date.
The tribunal was adjourned early after Mr Haughey said he was anxious to take further advice before completing his testimony.
