Dunnes Stores made payments of some £500,000 between 1987 and 1992 which the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, believes should have been reported to the McCracken Tribunal. Details of two of the three payments involved, totalling about £210,000, came to light for the first time yesterday.
The payments are in addition to those investigated by the McCracken Tribunal, which looked into money which was paid by the supermarket group to the Mr Charles Haughey and Mr Michael Lowry.
An affidavit sworn by one of Ms Harney's senior civil servants, Mr Paul Appleby, and opened in the High Court yesterday, says the payments were made in circumstances which "strongly suggest" there was no commercial justification for them. It also said they had "characteristics" similar to payments which were investigated by the McCracken Tribunal.
But Dunnes Stores' managing director, Mrs Margaret Heffernan, says in a replying affidavit that the current management became aware of the payments only recently and reported full details to the Moriarty Tribunal. Any problems identified in Dunnes Stores companies was in the past and related to its former managing director, Mr Ben Dunne.
The affidavits were presented to the High Court in a case in which Dunnes Stores is contesting the appointment of an authorised officer under the Companies Act 1990 to two of its companies. These are Dunnes Stores Ireland and Dunnes Stores Ilac Centre Ltd.
The Tanaiste is seeking the appointment of an authorised officer after investigations carried out in the wake of the McCracken report. These include investigations into Guinness & Mahon bank, which held the Ansbacher deposits, Celtic Helicopters, the company operated by the former Taoiseach's son, Mr Ciaran Haughey and Garuda, Mr Lowry's company.
Money which came from Dunnes Stores ended up in the Ansbacher deposits and was paid to Mr Haughey, the McCracken Tribunal found. The ultimate beneficiary of the new payments is not known, according to Mr Appleby's affidavit.
Three payments made up the £500,000 total, including £30,000 paid out in 1987 and £180,000 in 1992, the first details of which emerged yesterday. The third and largest payment was a £282,500 sterling payment, from a Dunnes Stores account in Bangor, Co Down, on May 20th, 1987.
This payment was to a company called Tripleplan. Information about this company was discovered by the Dunnes Stores auditors only earlier this year and led to the payment being brought to the attention of the Moriarty Tribunal, Mrs Heffernan said.
The Cayman Island bankers Mr John Collins and the late Mr John Furze were directors of Tripleplan. The company, which was dissolved in 1988, had a Guernsey address.
Mr Collins is and Mr Furze was on the board of Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd, the Cayman Islands bank which lodged the Ansbacher deposits with Guinness & Mahon bank in Dublin. Some of the money in the deposits came from Dunnes Stores and was paid to Mr Haughey, the McCracken Tribunal found.
In relation to the £30,000 payment, the court heard that some time in January 1987 this amount was paid out by way of a small number of cheques.
Mrs Heffernan says details of these payments were conveyed to Dunnes Stores by Guinness & Mahon bank in January of this year. The information was immediately passed on to the Moriarty Tribunal, she says, and when the company inquired with the issuing banks it was told records of the cheques had been destroyed.
Also mentioned in court yesterday were three cheques made out to cash in November 1992 and signed by Mr Bernard Dunne. The total amount involved was £180,000. Details of these cheques have also been forwarded to the Moriarty Tribunal by Dunnes and to Ms Harney's officer, Mr Gerard Ryan, the company said.
Meanwhile the Moriarty Tribunal, which is also investigating the Ansbacher deposits and the finances of Mr Haughey and Mr Lowry, yesterday heard evidence in private from two witnesses questioned about the identity of people who had money in the Ansbacher deposits.
The two witnesses, who were questioned under oath, were Mr Padraic Collery and Ms Joan Williams. Mr Collery is the former employee of Guinness & Mahon who was involved in the operation of the Ansbacher deposits. Ms Williams is the long-term secretary of the late Mr Des Traynor and was an authorised signatory for at least some of the accounts in the Ansbacher deposits. Mr Traynor was the main Irish figure involved in the operation of the deposits. He also looked after the personal finances of Mr Haughey.
The identities of persons who had money in the Ansbacher deposits will only be disclosed by the Moriarty Tribunal if it is found that they were involved in making payments to politicians.
