The Moriarty Tribunal has been hearing further details of evidence given in private by Charles Haughey. Mr Haughey gave 20 hours evidence on 20 days over three months from January to March of this year. The former Taoiseach's evidence was given in summarised form by counsel for the Tribunal, John Coughlan, SC, yesterday.
Mr Haughey answered questions about the use of the leader's allowance account in AIB, Baggot Street. The questions related specifically to a payment made from that account into another controlled by his financial advisor, Des Traynor, at Guinness and Mahon Bank in 1987. The £25,000 cheque was made "payable to cash" and was lodged in account of Amiens Securities in Guinness and Mahon the day after the general election on 16 June 1987.
Mr Haughey said that he had no recollection of the lodgement to Guinness and Mahon. He added that he had never made a lodgement to a bank in 30 years. John Coughlan, SC, suggested that the only way the cheque could have been lodged was by, or through, Mr Haughey. To this, Mr Haughey said that the lodgement was "odd", because it was the day after the general election in 1987 and he would, therefore, have been at the count.
The Tribunal has also heard Mr Haughey's evidence about a £100,000 payment by Mr Edmund Farrell of the Irish Permanent Building Society to the leader's account in 1986. Two cheques of £50,000 each were paid into the account in March and October 1986. Mr Haughey had endorsed the cheques with his signature and had written "for Fianna Fáil" on them. Mr Farrell's secretary in IPBS recorded them as subscriptions to Fianna Fáil.
Mr Haughey said that he had no knowledge of the lodgements and did not approach Mr Farrell for the payments. Asked why the money was not paid into the Fianna Fáil party's account, if it was a subscription for the party, Mr Haughey said that it was a matter of "whose need was greatest". Mr Haughey thought the payment into the leader's account was perfectly normal as the party was strapped for cash.
Charles Haughey later described his efforts for Brian Lenihan as "the most compassionate thing I have ever done in my life". He totally rejected the assertion that he would divert money from well-meaning people from the Brian Lenihan Fund to any other purpose. He said that he was closer to Brian Lenihan than his own brothers, and that he watched over him and protected him both personally and politically.
