There was further evidence yesterday of the crucial part played by accountants and lawyers in the dealings between the tribunal and the people it is investigating.
It was the turn of Mr Joe O'Toole, auditor to Bovale Developments, the building company run by Mr Michael Bailey and his brother, Tom, who spent much of the day defending his treatment of the company books.
Earlier Mr Stephen Miley, solicitor for a mysterious offshore company, Jackson Way, was summoned to tell the tribunal who was behind this company. Mr Miley refused to do so, on his clients' instructions, citing client-solicitor confidentiality.
The tribunal is hoping to complete its inquiries into the allegations made by Mr James Gogarty this week, but at yesterday's rate this will take some time longer. Mr Des O'Neill SC, for the tribunal, questioned Mr O'Toole about the Bovale accounts, and a number of interesting facts emerged.
In 1990 and 1991, for example, payments totalling £657,000 went from Bovale into the personal accounts of its directors that require explanation, according to Mr O'Neill. Over this period, £180,000 in Bovale money passed through two personal accounts held by Mrs Caroline Bailey, wife of Tom.
At least some of this money was being improperly attributed to payments to the ESB or Dublin County Council, when it was being channelled secretly for other uses, he said. During this period, the Baileys were officially paying themselves small salaries between £4,500 and £36,000 a year, according to the books prepared by Mr O'Toole.
Mr O'Neill said Bovale recorded a profit of only £10,000 in 1989. Further small profits were recorded over the succeeding two years, and then the company went into loss for four successive years.
Mr O'Neill asked the witness why his audits never picked up these secret payments. Had he never asked his clients how they were maintaining their lifestyles on salaries as low as £15,000 a year? Mr O'Toole said he wasn't aware of the personal living standards of the Baileys.
As for the lands owned by JMSE that are at the centre of this tribunal, Mr O'Neill asked the witness why they were revalued downwards several years after the Baileys bought them. He said the book worth of the lands dropped by one-third after Mr O'Toole revalued them. Was this done to allow the company to pay £328,000 less in capital acquisitions tax? he asked. Mr O'Toole denied this.
The accounts for this period were "demonstrably inaccurate," Mr O'Neill concluded. He went on to say that a number of political donations for sums between £1,000 and £4,500 were wrongly entered. Mr O'Toole revealed that he had written to the Revenue Commissioners last Friday to tell them he was carrying out a "major review" of the Bovale books.
The day began with Mr Miley staunchly defending his right to withhold from the tribunal the names of his clients in Jackson Way Properties, an offshore company which was involved in litigation with the State over road-building plans in south Dublin.
Jackson Way owned lands on both sides of the projected South-Eastern Motorway scheme and took court action to delay the project, which was settled late last year. Mr John Gallagher SC, for the tribunal, said he was investigating an allegation that money was paid on behalf of Jackson Way to secure the rezoning of these lands at Carrickmines.
Jackson Way was previously known as Paisley Park, which had nominee directors in the Isle of Man, Panama and the British Virgin Islands. Mr Gallagher said he believed the two companies had the same beneficial owners, and he indicated that they might not be living outside the jurisdiction.
The Sunday Tribune reported last week that the businessman and publican Mr James Kennedy bought the 106-acre site more than 10 years ago. Mr Kennedy is a close associate of the Fianna Fail TD Mr Liam Lawlor and of the former assistant Dublin city and county manager, Mr George Redmond. What subsequently happened to the land is unclear, but it was later registered to Jackson Way.
Mr Gallagher rejected Mr Miley's contention that he was protected by client-solicitor confidentiality, and suggested Jackson Way was attempting to hinder the tribunal in its work. The matter was adjourned for a week.