Moriarty tribunal: The former chairman and chief executive of the CRH group, Tony Barry, said he played no role in negotiating the purchase of property at Glen Ding, Co Wicklow, in 1990.
The 145-acre site was bought from the Department of Energy for £1.25 million and the tribunal is inquiring into whether the then taoiseach, Charles Haughey, or his financial adviser, the late Des Traynor, played any role in the sale.
Mr Barry told John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, that he was never asked to, and never gave any assistance to the CRH subsidiary, Roadstone Ireland Ltd, in relation to its purchase of the site. As far as he was aware, Mr Traynor likewise played no part in negotiating the sale.
Mr Barry said that in 1990 he was told that the purchase had been agreed subject to approval by the CRH board and his only role was to bring the proposal to the acquisitions committee of that board. Mr Traynor chaired the committee, but Mr Barry said that to his knowledge Mr Traynor played no other role.
Mr Barry said he been an account holder with Ansbacher Cayman and occasionally give sterling cheques to Mr Traynor for lodgement. The cheques were foreign currency dividends that were included in his income tax returns, he said.
He said he did not know at the time that any other directors of CRH had a banking relationship with Mr Traynor. He said that he had not known that Mr Traynor was running a banking operation from the CRH office in Dublin.
Mr Coughlan said that at different stages eight CRH directors or senior executives made use of the Ansbacher service. He asked what Mr Barry would say to the suggestion that it was incredible that this involvement had been compartmentalised, and that there was no collective knowledge of the Ansbacher operation.
"I can understand how third parties looking in might think that," said Mr Barry. But it was his experience that no other director discussed his banking arrangements with him, and likewise he never discussed his affairs with anyone else.
The tribunal adjourned to a date to be announced.
