Developer Tom Gilmartin has claimed that then Finance Minister Albert Reynolds got the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) to 'jump on' land he wanted at Quarryvale, west Dublin.
Mr Gilmartin told the Mahon Tribunal that this was done at the instigation of rival developer Owen O'Callaghan.
Mr Gilmartin claimed this was one of a series of Mr O'Callaghan's dirty tricks to frustrate his plans.
He said that once Mr O'Callaghan took over plans to develop the Liffey Valley shopping centre on the site, the IDA withdrew.
Mr Gilmartin alleged that Mr O'Callaghan was acting in 'collusion' with AIB Bank over Quarryvale.
Mr Gilmartin told the tribunal that no matter what proposal he and his investors came up with, AIB put roadblocks in front of him and were insisting that Mr O'Callaghan was brought into the development.
The tribunal heard that Mr Gilmartin had borrowed £7 million from AIB to buy lands at Quarryvale and £1.35 million was due in late 1990 to Mr O'Callaghan for his interest in a zoned town centre site at Neilstown.
'Every dirty trick being pulled'
Mr Gilmartin said he found it impossible to bring in investors because AIB refused to lift their charge on the Quarryvale lands.
Under questioning by Pat Quinn SC for the tribunal he denied that AIB were being over cautious.
'They had another agenda, they were determined Owen O'Callaghan got involved, there was collusion as I see it between the bank and O'Callaghan. Every dirty trick in the book was being pulled,' Mr Gilmartin said.
He said Mr O'Callaghan was not needed for Quarryvale and that the only thing he could bring was 'political influence'.
And he said Mr O'Callaghan going ahead with a planning permission application for the Neilstown site was part of the plan to thwart his plans for Quarryvale.
'No investor would look at Quarryvale while O'Callaghan was playing his games,' he said.
Mr Gilmartin rejected as a 'lie' an allegation by the late Liam Lawlor that he had brought 'undue influence' on the Department of Environment to ensure they did not fund road improvement for Mr O'Callaghan's Neilstown site.
'That's another Lawlor stroke,' he said.
