The Mahon tribunal has criticised Ciarán Haughey, son of the late taoiseach Charles Haughey, and his business partner John Barnicle, for failing to tell the inquiry that a significant amount of the proceeds from the sale of a share in a land holding near Dublin airport had been transferred to the Isle of Man.
Tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon said that a lot of man hours had been spent "wandering around the globe trying to work out where the money had gone".
He said that this time would have been saved if Mr Haughey and Mr Barnicle had told the truth when they gave evidence last October in relation to its investigations into land owned by a consortium known as Cargobridge.
Mr Haughey and Mr Barnicle owned a company called Abervanta which formed part of the Cargobridge consortium. Last October they told the tribunal they had received only £10,000 from the sale of Abervanta.
They maintained that the proceeds had gone to businessman Ben Dunne, who had acted as a facilitator and guarantor for the loan used to buy the land.
However, they later retracted that evidence and accepted that they had received the net proceeds from the sale.
Giving evidence yesterday, Mr Haughey said that he had received about £29,000 from the sale. A further £19,000 had gone to Celtic Helicopters, the company owned by Mr Haughey and Mr Barnicle.
Mr Haughey said he apologised if he had given a false impression in his earlier evidence that he had received only £10,000.
He said that when he had given this evidence, he had concentrated on planning issues and the ownership of the Cargobridge land. He had not been prepared at the time for dealing with the financial aspects of the transactions.
The tribunal heard that £85,194 from the proceeds of the sale of Abervanta had been transferred to the Bank of Ireland account of a company known as Carlisle Services Ltd in the Isle of Man.
Counsel for the tribunal Patricia Dillon SC said Carlisle Services Ltd had been incorporated in the United States and that Mr Haughey had been listed as its secretary.
Mr Haughey said the company had been established in the Isle of Man to deal in "international helicopter components". It was the only offshore company that he had ever had in his life, he said.
Judge Mahon said the £85,000 had been the only lodgment made to the Carlisle account and asked how Mr Haughey could have forgotten about it.
Ms Dillon said that £50,000 had been withdrawn from the account and transferred to a company called Medeva Properties. Mr Haughey said this was an aircraft leasing company.
Ms Dillon said that £18,000 had been transferred to Stott and Company. Mr Haughey said that the money had been used to buy shares in a mining company. She also said £14,000 had been transferred from the account in cash.
Mr Barnicle also apologised to the tribunal. He said he did not have the particulars at the time of his earlier evidence.
