The Moriarty Tribunal has been told that in 1994 Dunnes Stores wrote off two payments that Ben Dunne had made to Charles Haughey for over half a million pounds. This afternoon,the Tribunal also heard from counsel for Mr Haughey, Eoin McGonigle SC, that the former Taoiseach now accepted the evidence that he had received the Triple Plan cheque.
Patrick O'Donoghue who is company secretary for Dunnes Stores (Ireland) told the tribunal that the company decided to write off two payments which had been lying unexplained on the firm's books. These were a cheque for stg£282,500 known as the Triple Plan cheque drawn from a Dunnes Stores Bangor account and a cheque for stg£205,000 which the tribunal has heard were made to Haughey in 1987.
This morning the Tribunal heard of a conflict of evidence between Ben Dunne and his former close associate Noel Fox over the source of the funds which would go to paying off Charles Haughey's debts in 1987. Yesterday Mr Fox said that he made an approach to Ben Dunne in 1987 to discuss raising £900,000 to meet the financial difficulties of the former Taoiseach. This was at the bidding of Mr Haughey's accountant, the late Des Traynor, and has been documented in the McCracken Tribunal. Mr Fox said that Mr Dunne was to meet the payments from his own personal resources. But today Ben Dunne insisted that the money was always going to come from Dunnes Stores itself.
John Coughlan SC for the Tribunal today continued to ask Mr Dunne about the two cheques that were paid out in 1987 (the Triple Plan Cheque and the John Furze cheque). Mr Dunne has maintained he has no recollection of the Triple Plan cheque. He insisted under cross-examination that he recalled only one approach from Des Traynor, via Noel Fox, in the autumn of 1987.
But Mr Coughlan said the Triple Plan cheque meant the overall amount paid to Mr Haughey would have been well in excess of the £800,000 to £900,000 mentioned in the approach from Des Traynor. In that case, he said, would there not have been another approach some time earlier in 1987 since the Triple Plan cheque was paid in May of that year. Mr Coughlan then said that Mr Haughey became Taoiseach in March of that year, and asked if that was of any assistance in trying to determine if there was any other approach by Des Traynor? Mr Dunne replied "none whatsoever".
He was then asked if there were any big events happening the company that year. Mr Dunne said that if he had been asked yesterday then he would have said, maybe it was a big store opening, or something. But today he had read in the Irish Times that the Dunnes Settlement Trust had been set up that year. Referring to Triple Plan, Ben Dunne insisted he had no recollection of it although he recalled the Furze cheque. He said that was so because it was what he called "a hot" cheque, like it was stolen merchandise.
But Mr Coughlan said that the two cheques amounted to £500,000 pounds, and said, "if half a million was missing from one of your stores you'd be concerned, right?" Mr Dunne admitted that he would.
