Financier Dermot Desmond has agreed to hand over documents to the Moriarty Tribunal having earlier contested the Tribunal's request to see them. The documents contain details of two off-shore companies linked to Mr. Desmond which provided loans to Conor Haughey. The Tribunal is also to examine more payments from Ben Dunne to Charles Haughey.
Last December the Tribunal heard how Dermot Desmond loaned Conor Haughey £75,000 to repair his yacht "Celtic Mist" - the loan was channelled through two off-shore entities, Dedeer and Freezone. Mr. Desmond said at the time that he was willing to agree to the Tribunal examining these companies, but between then and now, he changed his mind. Freezone was a company central to the controversial sale of the Johnston, Mooney & O'Brien site to Telecom Eireann in the early 1990's.
Dermot Desmond's lawyers initially contested the Tribunal's discovery application against these companies and said they wanted to give their reasons for doing so in private. They said that Mr. Desmond was merely a witness and not the subject of the Tribunal's inquiries, and added that he had a constitutional right to privacy.
Mr. Justice Moriarty disagreed that the matter should be dealt with in camera and Mr. Desmond's legal team took a break to contact him by phone. In the intervening 10 or 15 minutes he changed his mind again and said he would now requested that the documents be handed over and would co-operate fully.
The Tribunal will later be examining Charles Haughey's personal bank accounts in detail.
