Mr Denis Foley said yesterday it was a coincidence that he had not disclosed the existence of his account in the Ansbacher deposits and that Mr Padraig Collery had given false evidence about the same matter.
Mr Foley and the former Guinness & Mahon banker have said in evidence that there was very little contact over the years between them. Both have said they never discussed anything to do with the tribunal and what it did and didn't know. This was despite a meeting in 1998 when the Moriarty tribunal and other inquiries into the Ansbacher deposits were already under way.
Over the weekend Mr Foley produced his personal contacts book to the tribunal. As Mr John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, put it, there are more entries in the book for Mr Collery than there are for anyone else, including any of Mr Foley's constituents or political colleagues.
What's more, the book contains a number which Mr Collery started to use only last year. Both men have said there was no direct contact between them last year and Mr Foley has said he was in contact with no third party in relation to the matter. This point is only one of a number of mysteries which persist after the evidence of the two.
Both agree that their first direct contact occurred in 1995, a year after the death of Mr Des Traynor. Mr Foley contacted Mr Collery by telephone and told him he wanted to make a withdrawal. The two subsequently met in Jurys Hotel, Dublin, where £50,000 in cash was handed over. As they had not met before Mr Collery described himself to Mr Foley over the telephone (he has a distinctive head of white hair), and Mr Foley brought along his driving licence.
According to both men, the next contact was in 1998, a year after the McCracken tribunal revealed the existence of the Ansbacher deposits. Mr Foley contacted Mr Collery by telephone, and a meeting was arranged. It was a short meeting, early in the morning in Dublin Airport, according to both men. Last May Mr Collery sent some bank statements to Mr Foley. The evidence is that they have had no further direct contact.
Mr Foley's contacts book has six numbers for Mr Collery. According to Mr Collery's counsel, Mr Noel Devitt, one of the numbers is a direct-line number which Mr Collery began to use only in 1999. Another is an 086 number, and according to Mr Devitt, Mr Collery will say he used an 087 code up to 1998. A third number was used by Mr Collery in the years 1997 and 1998. So how did Mr Foley get the numbers?
The Fianna Fail TD said the numbers could not have come from a third party as he only dealt with the late Mr Traynor and Mr Collery in relation to his account. He said no numbers were given to him during the 1998 meeting which, he said, was very short and was focused on his getting statements from Mr Collery. He could not explain how the numbers came to be in his contact book, given that there had been no contact with Mr Collery since.
He agreed with Mr Coughlan that he had a clear recall of events which occurred as far back as the 1960s, but he could not recall how he got the recent numbers for Mr Collery.
As Mr Coughlan put it, some of the numbers must have been given to Mr Foley "in the eye of the storm", meaning since the existence of the Ansbacher deposits was made public in mid-1997. Mr Foley said he had tried but could not remember how he got the numbers. "I just can't understand it," he said.
No further progress was made in relation to the mystery, and Mr Foley was told he may have to return to give further assistance to the tribunal.
Mr Foley's is the second contacts book which has been mentioned in the proceedings and which contained Mr Collery's number. Last October Ms Catherine Butler, a former personal secretary of Mr Charles Haughey, said she had made a duplicate of Mr Haughey's contacts book and that the numbers listed included Mr Collery's. She also said she remembered making calls to Mr Collery for Mr Haughey, so that the two men could talk.
Ms Butler's employment in the Taoiseach's Department ended in 1992. Mr Collery has told the tribunal he became involved in Mr Haughey's personal financial affairs after Mr Traynor's death in 1994. The inclusion of Mr Collery's name in the book kept by Ms Butler is another mystery that has yet to be cleared up.