Four weeks of evidence from Century co-founder Mr James Stafford has left the former Fianna Fail minister, Mr Ray Burke, with deep and troubling questions to answer regarding his role in the award of a broadcasting licence to Century.
Whereas the tribunal's investigations into Mr James Gogarty's allegations of land corruption produced only murk and befuddlement, the central thread of the Century story points clearly to undue ministerial intervention and inappropriate closeness between politicians and their businessmen friends.
While it seldom made for riveting viewing, there was no surprise that the questioning of Mr Stafford took so long.
Few observers expect Mr Justice Flood to deliver decisive findings on the Gogarty allegations but the Century controversy is more cut and dried.
Century's Mr Oliver Barry gave Mr Burke £35,000 and his radio station got the licence, so there is a direct cause and effect to be tested.
Mr Stafford has made a number of sensational allegations involving corruption, many of which will prove unsustainable. However, the trail of documents uncovered by the tribunal, together with the evidence of objective witnesses, provides prima- facie evidence of inappropriate behaviour at the very least.
The statement of Prof Ray Hills, an English consultant employed by Century to provide advice on transmission issues, belongs in this latter category.
Mr Hills came to Dublin for a meeting in 1988 before Century was awarded the licence and says he found himself afterwards in the Horseshoe Bar of the Shelbourne Hotel with Mr Stafford and Mr Oliver Barry.
Mr Barry pointed out the minister, who was also in the bar, Mr Hills recalled, and said: "That's the minister, Ray Burke - he's the one who's going to give us our licence."
Whether it was bravado or the drink talking, or even the truth, the remark is deeply unsettling. No wonder that Century was being described around town, as Mr Stafford conceded yesterday, as "Radio Fianna Fail".
Mr Stafford has been less successful in extricating himself from the mess.
He says he knew nothing about Mr Barry's donation of £35,000 to Mr Burke in May 1989 until two years later, but his own accountant flatly contradicts this.
Again, Mr Stafford says he wasn't in the Horseshoe Bar for the episode above yet Mr Hills will tell the tribunal next week that he was.