In his opening statement yesterday, Mr John Coughlan SC, counsel for the tribunal, said that evidence was to be presented in relation to accounts which Mr Charles Haughey had in Guinness & Mahon bank in the period from 1979 to 1987. During that period more than £1.5 million passed through the accounts, he said.
It is understood that these accounts were G & M accounts kept in the bank, rather than the more secretive Ansbacher deposits, which were lodged in G & M and in which Mr Haughey is also known to have had funds.
The £1.5 million therefore is likely to be additional to the payments already considered by the McCracken (Dunnes Payments) tribunal and those about which evidence has already been heard by the Moriarty tribunal. It brings the total amount considered by the two tribunals in relation to Mr Haughey to more than £4 million.
Evidence relating to loan accounts held inside and outside the jurisdiction by Mr Haughey is also to be heard in the coming weeks. However, the evidence heard yesterday concerned Mr Michael Lowry rather than Mr Haughey.
Mr Denis O'Connor, an accountant, gave evidence of scrutinising all of Mr Lowry's known income. He said that he had sought evidence of money being lodged in 19 bank accounts linked to the former minister. The period covered was 1987 to 1996.
Mr O'Connor also looked at all lodgments into these accounts to see if he could identify their source. For each year covered he then totted up the amount of income which could not be positively identified as lodged, and the amount of money lodged which could not be positively attributed to a particular source. He agreed with Mr Donal O'Donnell SC, for Mr Lowry, that the colder the trail, the harder it was to determine the details of particular payments.
The total amount which passed through Mr Lowry's 19 accounts was not disclosed, although the tribunal heard that Mr Lowry's company, Streamline, did business worth £12 million with Dunnes Stores during the period. Mr O'Connor agreed with Mr O'Donnell that, for the 10 years covered, the total amount of money lodged, the source of which could not be identified, was £31,000, and the bulk of this belonged to the first five years. "I'd regard it as immaterial", Mr O'Connor said.
The source of some payments to Mr Lowry is known, and the tribunal wishes to inquire further into these. The first was a payment of £15,000 from Dunnes Stores, which was similar to other payments from Dunnes covered by the McCracken tribunal. Another was a £25,000 payment from Mr Bill Maher, of Maher Meats, in December 1992.
Both Mr Maher and Mr Lowry are in agreement that this was for refrigeration consultancy work done by Mr Lowry for Mr Maher. The money, in cash, was handed to Mr Lowry during a meeting in the Royal Dublin Hotel on December 23rd, 1992. Mr Lowry lodged the money to his account at the AIB branch in Dame Street, Dublin.
The tribunal is inquiring whether the work done by Mr Lowry for Mr Maher justified the payment. Mr Lowry said he did not know how much he was going to be paid until the money was handed over. He thought the amount was "generous without being excessive".
Another cash payment was made to Mr Lowry in May 1995, when Mr Lowry was a government minister. A property developer, Mr Pat Doherty, bought antiques from Mr Lowry and sent the cash, in a white A4 envelope, to Mr Lowry's Co Tipperary home in the delivery van which collected the antiques.
Mr Lowry said he lodged the funds to one of his bank accounts. The antiques had earlier been valued at £39,000.
Another matter which is to be inquired into is assistance given by the late Mr Michael Holly, of Cedar Building Company Ltd, to Mr Lowry. Mr Holly purchased a house at Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin, for £200,000 at auction in July 1996 and gave Mr Lowry first option on buying it from him.
Mr Lowry secured a mortgage for £200,000 from the Irish National Building Society and bought the house from Mr Holly for that amount. When the transaction was disclosed in the media, Mr Lowry sold the house back to Mr Holly, in January 1997, for £223,000.