The £1 million settlement the former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, made with the Revenue Commissioners last year is among matters being examined by the Moriarty tribunal, which resumes today.
The tribunal, which last sat in public on December 22nd, is also to examine if the Revenue was successful in raising taxes from former Fine Gael minister Mr Michael Lowry.
During January the tribunal conducted some one-hour interviews with Mr Haughey in a private room in Dublin Castle. The taking of evidence "on commission" from Mr Haughey may now be completed and the tribunal may be attempting to finish all its hearings before the summer break.
Mr Lowry has made a partial settlement with the Revenue in relation to hundreds of thousands of pounds in undeclared income he received from Dunnes Stores in the early 1990s. ail in 1996 that he had availed of the 1993 tax amnesty.
Payments intended for Mr Lowry were deposited in offshore accounts by Dunnes Stores. Also, a building firm, Faxhill Homes Ltd, which carried out work worth almost £400,000 on Mr Lowry's family home in Co Tipperary, was paid by Dunnes Stores.
Mr Haughey's £1 million settlement with the Revenue in April 2000 arose out of a Gift Tax assessment for £1.16 million raised against him in the wake of the McCracken (Dunnes Stores) Tribunal. The tribunal had heard that Mr Haughey received £1.3 million from Mr Ben Dunne in the period 1987 to 1992.
Mr Haughey took the assessment to the Appeal Commissioners where his advisers argued successfully that the Revenue's case was fundamentally flawed in that it did not show precisely who had given Mr Haughey the money. The assessment was reduced to zero. The Revenue was planning to have the matter reheard in the Circuit Court when the settlement was agreed.
Mr Haughey's evidence is understood to have taken less time than was anticipated and, according to some sources, went well from his point of view.
