The Moriarty tribunal is to hold its first public hearing today since it adjourned on July 20th last. Further revelations concerning the financial affairs of the former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, are expected.
Counsel for the tribunal will open the session with an outline statement covering the evidence to be heard in the coming days and weeks, following which witnesses will be heard.
Mr John Gormley, of the Green Party, and a spokesman for the Blessington Heritage Trust have called for the tribunal chairman, Mr Justice Moriarty, to make a further statement in relation to Cement Roadstone Holdings. A spokesman for the tribunal would not say if any such statement would be made today.
Mr Justice Moriarty has said that because he had a substantial shareholding in CRH at the time of his appointment, he believes he is precluded from investigating matters concerning the company.
Last month it was revealed that the authorised officer who inquired into Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd found evidence that more than half the board of CRH in 1987 may have had accounts in the Ansbacher deposits.
The officer found evidence that Ansbacher (Cayman) operated as an unlicensed bank for more than 20 years and that for a period its business was operated by the late Mr Des Traynor from his office as chairman in the CRH headquarters in Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin.
The Moriarty tribunal is investigating the finances of Mr Haughey and the former Fine Gael minister, Mr Michael Lowry. It is also charged with making recommendations "for the protection of the State's tax base from fraud or evasion in the establishment or maintenance of offshore accounts".
The tribunal will not sit tomorrow as counsel will be appearing in the Supreme Court, where a ruling is to be made on costs in relation to the case Mr Haughey took against the tribunal last year. The tribunal is expected to resume on Friday to hear further evidence.
Documents have been given to the tribunal by the authorised officer who conducted an inquiry into Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd, the Cayman Islands bank behind the Ansbacher deposits. The documents concern £200,000 in sterling lodged to the Ansbacher deposits by Wytrex (Far East) Ltd, the company which was the source of much of the money given by Mr Ben Dunne to Mr Haughey.
The £200,000 may have gone to Mr Haughey and, if so, brings the total given to the former Taoiseach by Mr Dunne to more than £2 million. The McCracken tribunal discovered £1.3 million of this and a further £500,000 approximately has been examined in evidence before the Moriarty tribunal.
The Moriarty tribunal has revealed that during the 1970s Mr Haughey ran up an overdraft of £1.143 million with AIB. The debt was settled with a payment of £750,000 in January 1980. Mr Patrick Gallagher provided £300,000 towards the settlement of the debt and two other, as yet unnamed, individuals are understood to have provided the remainder.
The tribunal has also revealed that between 1979 and 1987, £1.5 million passed through accounts which Mr Haughey had with Guinness & Mahon bank. Some of the funds may have passed through two accounts and some was part of the money from Mr Dunne, but the origin of a substantial amount of the money has yet to be disclosed.
Mr Haughey took out a loan of £400,000 from Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust [now Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd] in 1983, and paid it off in 1987, the year he returned to power after five years in opposition. Mr Haughey has refused to give the tribunal access to his Cayman Islands bank records.
