The Moriarty tribunal has told the family of the late Charles Haughey that it intends to find he obstructed the tribunal's work.
The finding, if it ends up in the final report, could lead to Mr Haughey's estate being denied the legal costs incurred during his years of dealings with the tribunal.
It could also lead to some of the tribunal's own costs being charged to the late taoiseach's estate.
Mr Haughey was represented at the tribunal by Eoin McGonigal SC and Ivor Fitzpatrick solicitors. The tribunal's dealings with Mr Haughey lasted from 1997 to 2001 and the fees involved could be well in excess of €1 million.
The tribunal has written to all persons and organisations about which it intends making negative findings to give them a chance to respond. Responses have to be received by next Monday.
In its notification to the family of the late Mr Haughey, it said his obstruction of the tribunal had meant it had taken longer than would otherwise have been the case for it to do its work.
In his evidence to the tribunal Mr Haughey repeatedly said he had no knowledge of payments or transactions being inquired into by the tribunal, saying he left all these matters to the accountant, the late Des Traynor.
As well as inquiring into payments totalling millions of euro, the tribunal also investigated two instances where Mr Haughey acted in ways that helped his benefactors.
One was a meeting he helped set up between Ben Dunne and the former chairman of the Revenue, Séamus Paircéir. The other was Mr Haughey's direct instruction to a civil servant to naturalise a Lebanese girl who was related to an extremely wealthy Saudi horse breeder, the late Mamoud Fustok.
Both Mr Dunne and Mr Fustok had made payments to Mr Haughey. In Mr Dunne's case the amounts were in excess of €2.5 million. At the time of the meetings with Mr Paircéir, the Dunne family was very concerned about a pending tax bill.
Mr Haughey sold his home and surrounding lands at Abbeville, Kinsealy, Co Dublin, to Manor Homes in 2003.
A source close to the family said the price paid was €35 million.
