The Democratic Left leader, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, was in Moscow when a letter purporting to come from himself and the Workers' Party General Secretary, Mr Sean Garland, was sent to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union seeking £1 million, the court heard.
Mr De Rossa told the court he never signed this letter and did not know anything about it. The letter was never authorised or discussed or agreed by the Ard Comhairle or the political committee of the Workers' Party.
Mr De Rossa told Mr Michael McDowell SC, for the Sunday Independent, that he was in Moscow with Mr Garland on September 15th, 1986, the date on the letter.
He was returning from a three day conference in North Korea which was held from September 6th to 8th.
Mr McDowell read out the text of the Moscow letter which was addressed to the Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU and which referred to the "continuing economic crisis" in Ireland and speculated about the possibility of a general election.
Referring to Northern Ireland the letter predicted a major escalation of terrorist violence and stated: "We have received reliable reports that the British and Irish governments are prepared for a figure of up to 5,000 dead in such a situation in order to achieve their aims."
It went on to describe a five year WP development programme which included the creation of a school of political education and training, the establishment of a new party journal, and eventually a weekly newspaper. The letter detailed the costs of the plan which amounted to £3.45 million and said that the party's main source of income was from members' subscriptions, special levies and public national collections. Their annual income was £120,000 but expenditure was £325,000.
"The bulk of the shortfall has been met by `special activities' of which it is not possible to detail here because of reasons we are sure you will understand," the letter said. "The special activities are unable always to be effective and so on occasions the party has had to seek loans from individuals and financial institutions for specific activities." According to the letter the WP faced an extremely grave problem with its finances and urgently needed an injection of capital.
"Therefore we would respectfully request a grant of £1 million (Irish) over the proposed five-year development period in order to assist us in this vital and urgent task which we believe will be of benefit to the world struggle for peace, freedom and socialism. If there is agreement in principle to our request we are available at any time to meet and discuss any proposed arrangement and/or to expand on any of the points in this letter," it concluded.
Mr De Rossa recalled that the text of the letter was published in the Irish Times on October 27th, 1992. That was the first time he had seen it, he said.