The Moriarty tribunal yesterday heard more evidence from Mr Ben Dunne about the often unusual practices which operated in Dunnes Stores when he was in charge of the group.
The tribunal is dealing with payments from Dunnes Stores which were not dealt with by the 1997 McCracken tribunal. A cheque for £282,500 sterling made out to a company called Tripleplan in May 1987 has already been dealt with. Mr Charles Haughey, through his counsel, has said he accepts, on the basis of evidence heard, that the money went to his benefit.
Yesterday Mr Dunne told the tribunal about the "bearer cheque" system, a practice which he said had existed since his father's time. He said Mr Frank Bowen, of Deloitte & Touche, and, less frequently, Mr Noel Fox, of Oliver Freaney, would prepare cheques at around the end of the financial year, and he would sign them. Mr Bowen and Mr Fox are trustees of Dunnes Stores and their companies are both involved in auditing Dunnes group companies. Mr Dunne would sign up to 40 such cheques.
The cheques would be made out to "bearer" for amounts usually between £3,000 and £6,000 or £7,000. The cheques were distributed among senior executives of the group. "I would give some of them to whoever brought them to me, either Noel Fox or Frank Bowen. I would keep some for my own personal self and I would use others for executives in the business", Mr Dunne said.
The payments were the equivalent of cash bonuses, he said. "Even though it was company money, they were like my own pound notes." The money was treated as expenses in the Dunnes group accounts. Six of these cheques, dated January 28th 1987, ended up a few days later in an account in Guinness & Mahon bank controlled by the late Mr Des Traynor, from which payments were made for the benefit of Mr Haughey. The name on the account was Amiens Securities Ltd.
When he was asked if anyone would be given six of the cheques, Mr Dunne said that no one would, apart from himself. He said he had no memory of giving the cheques to Mr Haughey, although it was possible.
Mr Eoin McGonigal SC, for Mr Haughey, said that his client would say he never received the cheques.
Mr Dunne gave evidence that he first met Mr Haughey sometime in 1986, or possibly in 1985. He knew Mr Fox knew Mr Haughey, and he sought an introduction because he wanted to meet the man. The three met at Kinsealy, over tea, probably on a Saturday morning. No one else was present.
A general election campaign was under way in late January 1987 and Mr Dunne was asked if he had been asked for political contributions. "Without recalling any, I would say there wouldn't be a month goes by without getting requests for political donations, even still." The comment was met with laughter from the public and the legal teams present. Mr Dunne said he had no memory of dealings with politicians in the early part of 1987.
Mr Fox, for his part, admitted that he had been involved in the drafting of the six cheques, but he could not remember the event. He said he had no regular involvement in the writing of the bearer cheques. In 1989 he had been involved in bringing the matter to the attention of the Revenue Commissioners, for settlement. The practice had ended some time before that. An "umbrella settlement" had been made by the group with the Revenue, and no attempt had been made to identify the individuals who received the cheques, or how much they received.
Evidence was heard about three cheques totalling £180,000 made out to cash by Mr Dunne in November 1992. This is the third Dunnes payment the tribunal is concerned with.
Mr Patrick McCann, of Management Investment Services (MIS), told how he was approached by Mr Traynor and instructed to lodge the cheques to the account of the property company, Carlisle Trust. Mr Traynor was a director of Carlisle and MIS provided secretarial services to the company. Mr McCann, acting on Mr Traynor's instructions, then had two cheques drawn from the account. One was to Celtic Helicopters, for £100,000. The other was made out to cash, for £80,000, and given to Mr Traynor. Mr McCann said he knew of no other such transaction involving Carlisle.
Mr John Byrne, the principal of Carlisle, was present at the tribunal yesterday afternoon and is likely to be called today. The tribunal has already been told that he had been "dismayed" to learn that the money had been passed through his company's account.