The Moriarty tribunal will be concentrating on Mr Charles Haughey's relationship with Allied Irish Banks when the former Taoiseach begins his evidence to the inquiry today.
Questions will also be asked "if time permits" about dealings he had with Guinness & Mahon and Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust, Mr Jerry Healy SC, for the tribunal, said yesterday.
In an opening statement on the latest stage of the tribunal, Mr Healy also outlined a statement by the millionaire businessman Dr Michael Smurfit, who gave a £60,000 contribution to Fianna Fail for the 1989 election.
The tribunal heard that the Jefferson Smurfit group made a gift to Mr Haughey in 1990 of a Jack B. Yeats painting, The Forge. This was in recognition of Mr Haughey's assuming office at the Council of Ministers during Ireland's presidency of the EU.
Around the same time, the Jefferson Smurfit group made another presentation to Mr Haughey, representing the people of Ireland, of a picture by Sir John Lavery, Raising the Flag. This is now understood to be hanging in the State collection.
Dr Smurfit's statement said he recalled he had phoned Mr Des Traynor, sometime between late 1989 and 1991, asking if he or one of his companies was interested in becoming a member of the K Club. He did not recall the conversation in detail, but Mr Traynor declined to join. Instead he asked for a contribution from Dr Smurfit for Mr Haughey, who Mr Traynor said was in financial difficulties. Dr Smurfit said he declined to make a contribution but he could not remember if it was during that phone call he declined.
Counsel for the tribunal outlined a paper trail of the £60,000 contribution which took place after the election. Mr Healy said it appeared there was an earlier instruction which predated the subsequent written request.
The money was routed from the Jefferson Smurfit Group office in Clonskeagh, Dublin, to Allied Irish Banks in the Channel Islands on June 14th, 1989.
AIB was asked to arrange for a payment in sterling of the equivalent of £60,000 to a Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust account in Henry Ansbacher & Co in Mitre Square, London. The request was for a direct bank transfer and was signed by the late Mr David Austen, who was at the time a director of Jefferson Smurfit.
Counsel said the instruction appeared to be related to an earlier debit to the Jefferson Smurfit Foundation Trustees Account. This showed a debit of £52,215 sterling and predated the instruction from Mr Austen.
Fianna Fail cash receipts showed the payment of £50,000 as an anonymous donation, although Dr Smurfit did not direct that it should be anonymous. Fianna Fail documentation also included a second list to identify certain donors, including anonymous donors. The receipts for those donations were sent to Mr Haughey and not directly to the donors themselves. Dr Smurfit's donation was on that list.
The donation was recorded as being received as a single bank draft issued by Guinness & Mahon. This draft "was funded by two bank drafts lodged to an internal bank account at Guinness & Mahon". The two bank drafts were for £25,000 each. The drafts had been handed to Mr Haughey by Mr Mark Kavanagh as part of an overall contribution of £100,000 to Fianna Fail funds and to the Brian Lenihan fund.
The two bank drafts were routed through Guinness & Mahon in "what was effectively an exchange". The two drafts drawn on AIB were exchanged for one draft of £50,000 issued by Guinness & Mahon. That was recorded at Fianna Fail headquarters as a donation from Dr Smurfit.
