The Moriarty tribunal will hear new evidence today on payments to the former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, from the Irish Permanent Building Society in 1989 totalling £30,000.
Mr Enda Hogan, a former Irish Permanent director, is expected to explain the background to a £20,000 cheque payable to Mr Haughey which he believes was intended to go towards the costs of a liver transplant for the former Tanaiste, Mr Brian Lenihan. The stub of the cheque was marked "B Lenihan", but Mr John Coughlan SC said on Wednesday it appeared the cheque was deposited in a Celtic Helicopters account in the Dublin Airport branch of Bank of Ireland. The stub of another £10,000 cheque from Irish Permanent to Mr Haughey was marked "sub". This also appears to have ended up in a Celtic Helicopters account.
The tribunal expects to hear from three witnesses this morning. Counsel for the tribunal, Mr Jerry Healy SC, named two of them - Mr Hogan and a Celtic Helicopters director, Mr John Barnacle. In a brief sitting yesterday, the tribunal heard evidence from Mr Paul Carty, a managing partner of Deloitte & Touche, and Mr Peter Fitzpatrick, the liquidator of Merchant Banking Ltd. Mr Carty gave evidence on credits to Mr Haughey's bill-paying service at the Haughey Boland & Co firm of accountants, now part of Deloitte & Touche. He said a number of debits from the Amiens accounts with Guinness & Mahon bank (which were controlled by Mr Des Traynor) appeared to correspond with credits to the Haughey Boland No 3 bank account at AIB in Dame Street, from which Mr Haughey's bill-paying service operated. Mr Peter Fitzpatrick told the tribunal of a fax in October 1990 from Mr Haughey's solicitors marked "urgent" which requested immediate confirmation that Mr Haughey and the Haughey family company, Larchfield Securities, had settled in full with the liquidators of Merchant Banking. Loans made by the bank to Mr Haughey and Larchfield Securities were still outstanding at the time it collapsed in 1982.
The first indication Mr Fitzpatrick had that there was a query on the matter was a letter from Mr Haughey in October 1990 requesting confirmation that "the account in the name of Larchfield Securities Limited was settled in full on demand from the liquidator . . . and confirmation that the liquidator's report indicates that this was a normal banking transaction and that there is no suggestion of impropriety of any kind".
Mr Fitzpatrick said he had no idea which report Mr Haughey was referring to. He could find no reference to the loan accounts in the liquidator's report. He furnished Mr Haughey's solicitors with the other confirmations they requested. was not informed why there was a "particular urgency" attached to Mr Haughey's request.
