The former taoiseach, Mr Haughey, was challenged about his view that his financial adviser, the late Mr Des Traynor, had managed his accounts.
Counsel for the Moriarty inquiry, Mr John Coughlan SC, put it to Mr Haughey that there was no management of the accounts in the mid-1970s, by which point his debt to AIB had risen to £500,000.
Mr Haughey maintained, however, that Mr Traynor managed his financial affairs and was "quite active" with them. He was "specifically the person who had the supervision and management of my financial affairs and was my adviser".
He remembered being lectured by Mr Traynor "over the years. He would not approve of my handling of my affairs in so far as I handled them."
Mr Coughlan: "He would have been unhappy with this level of indebtedness."
Mr Haughey: "As an accountant and banker I think it would all have been anathema to him."
Mr Haughey said he was the customer and it seemed clear from the documents and general experience that the bank "always wants to deal with the No 1 suspect at the time".
The bank would like to "see me there, eyeball to eyeball, to emphasise their annoyance or concern and to try and get specific undertakings from me".
Mr Coughlan said: "You say the bank would be anxious to eyeball the customer. They weren't getting very far by eyeballing you in relation to a reduction or clearance of this particular indebtedness."
Mr Haughey: "I would have to agree with you that that is correct."
Earlier, Mr Coughlan had said: "You said Mr Traynor had overall management of your affairs. Would it be fair to say that up to this time there doesn't appear to have been any management of the affairs?"
Mr Haughey replied that Mr Traynor did intervene when anything had to be done such as with Northern Bank Finance Corporation. He was also involved in the sale of the stud. He would also know about the situation from Haughey Boland.
However, Mr Coughlan suggested that the documentation showed Mr Haughey was the person dealing with AIB.
There were only one or two interventions by Mr Traynor, when he spoke to the bank after getting authority from Mr Haughey to ascertain his financial situation and on another occasion when he accompanied Mr Haughey to a meeting when proposals were discussed. The documents did not record Mr Traynor attending any meetings in 1976, 1977 or 1978.
Mr Haughey said the fact they were not recorded did not mean they did not take place. Mr Traynor at this stage was a banker himself, and it would not have been "at all out of the way" that he would be talking to fellow bankers if necessary.
He speculated that his bank manager, Mr Michael Phelan, might have discussed his affairs from time to time on a personal informal basis.
