A lending officer of Smurfit Parabas Bank has told the Moriarty Tribunal that in 1985 Charles Haughey held a 12.5pc stake in Celtic Helicopters when the company was set up. Michael Corneen said he had been told of the shareholding when the company sought a loan of £90,000.
This contradicts earlier evidence by Ciarán Haughey that his father had no shareholding in the Celtic Helicopters. When challenged by counsel for Ciarán Haughey on this, Mr. Corneen said that he was certain that Mr. Haughey had a 12.5pc shareholding.
He also said that the use of Mr Haughey's name had influenced the decision to approve the loan and had added to the credibility of the application. The Moriarty Tribunal learnt earlier of a further investment of £75,000 in Celtic Helicopters in 1985. The company is partly owned by Ciarán Haughey, son of the former Taoiseach.
In his opening statement following an 11-day adjournment John Coughlan, SC, for the tribunal said that these funds were transferred from an account in Guinness and Mahon Bank, which was controlled by Charles Haughey's accountant, the late Des Traynor. That was an Amiens Securities account, part of the network of Ansbacher deposits that were technically offshore, but accessible in Dublin.
In all, five lodgements were made into Celtic Helicopters accounts between the 26th and 28th of March 1985. A mystery surrounds one of the lodgements, £10,000 lodged on March 26. It was a cheque made out to Dr. Michael Dargan from the account of John Magnier, of Coolmore Stud. Mr. Coughlan told the tribunal that Dr. Dargan would say he had absolutely no idea how a cheque destined for him should end up being lodged to Celtic Helicopters.
The tribunal also heard that the final part of the £75,000 investment was a £10,000 lodgement from a Guinness and Mahon bank account belonging to Seamus Pursell, the livestock exporter. Mr. Coughlan said that the tribunal would be investigating who it was had made the remainder of these payments and whether they were intended to benefit Charles Haughey or any company associated with him.
Earlier, Mr Justice Moriarty criticised unnamed individuals who, he said, had been asked to supply documents and statements to the tribunal team. He said some practitioners had only supplied documents at the last minute and in other cases they were not supplied in the manner required by the tribunal.
