The Department of Justice has handed over all the files relating to the passports-for-investment scheme to the Moriarty Tribunal, The Irish Times has learned.
The tribunal, which is investigating payments to Mr Charles Haughey and Mr Michael Lowry, is understood to have received up to 160 files in recent days. They were requested by Mr Justice Moriarty.
The terms of reference of the tribunal, established in September 1997, make no specific reference to the passports-for-investment scheme.
But they require Mr Justice Moriarty to investigate whether Mr Haughey or Mr Lowry "did any act or made any decision" in the course of ministerial offices "to confer any benefit on any person" who might have made a payment, directly or indirectly, to them.
The substantial documentation which was sought in the last few weeks covers the investors, spouses and children who were naturalised under the Investment-Based Naturalisation Scheme, which was formally ended in April this year after 10 years in existence.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice last night refused to comment on the delivery of files to the tribunal.
Under the scheme, which came to public attention only in 1994, normal requirements under citizenship legislation could be waived and passports awarded in return for an investment of about £1 million and the purchase of a residence in Ireland.
An internal Department of Justice inquiry found in January 1995 that statutory procedures for the naturalisation of foreigners had been breached in several cases.
It emerged that the then Minister for Justice, Mr Ray Burke, had been asked to grant passport applications to Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz and his family and friends.
The enormously wealthy Sheikh Khalid, head of Saudi Arabia's only private bank, National Commercial Bank, promised to invest £20 million in Ireland.
In an unusual departure from procedure, Mr Burke personally authorised the naturalisation certificates in December 1990.
Sheikh Khalid was later linked to the massive BCCI banking scandal in 1994.
In December 1988, 33 passports were given to the Fang family of Hong Kong, who were involved in a clothing firm in Coolock, Co Dublin.
The scheme came to public attention when it emerged that a wealthy Saudi businessman, Mr Khalid Masri, had invested £1 million in C&D Petfoods, the company owned by the family of Mr Albert Reynolds.
At the time of the scheme's formal abolition 143 people - 48 of whom were the spouses or children of investors - had been naturalised under the procedures.
Several applications remained to be processed. It is estimated that a total investment of over £90 million was made on foot of the scheme.
Gardai are in contact with police forces in several countries about the records and backgrounds of some people who received passports under the scheme.
These include a native of the Czech Republic, Mr Viktor Kozeny, who received a passport in 1995 under the rainbow coalition. He has been embroiled in a financial scandal in Czechoslovakia.
The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, has said that he will consider revoking any passports where it is shown that the recipients had criminal records in their native countries.