THE MANNER in which he was paid by Mr Ben Dunne could have facilitated the non-payment of tax, Mr Lowry admitted, but he said that was not his intention. Questions by counsel for the tribunal, Mr Denis McCullough SC, about whether Mr Lowry had paid tax on income paid into overseas accounts, led to a tense exchange as proceedings drew to a close yesterday.
Mr McCullough put it to Mr Lowry that the reason Mr Dunne made payments to him in a secret and hidden way, that would not be apparent to authorities in Ireland, was either because he wanted to buy favours or influence from Mr Lowry in his position as a politician, or because it suited Mr Lowry for his own financial reasons.
"Is there any alternative proposition, Mr Lowry, that you want to advance?"' he asked the witness.
Mr Lowry said to answer "the most important suggestion" first, at no time had Mr Dunne ever asked him for a political favour. "He never asked for one, he was never offered one and he was never given one.
"In regard to the first question you have put to me, I want to say that the manner of payment was a matter for Mr Dunne. I regret very much that I went along with that and from that point of view I accept my responsibilities, whatever they are," he said.
It was never his intention that the monies he received from Mr Dunne should be payments which were not subject to taxation.
Mr McCullough said he had suggested two propositions, one of which must have applied. Did Mr Lowry in fact pay tax on those payments?
Mr Lowry said: "Mr McCullough, first of all could I say that neither of the suggestions that you have made to me are accurate or correct. And what I am saying is that those payments are the subject of scrutiny by the Revenue Commissioners.
"I have made a full and open disclosure to the Revenue Commissioners and I want to say on this particular point also that it should be very apparent to everybody from the Price Waterhouse report that I was not unique. Mr Dunne had unorthodox and unconventional methods of business and I was no different."
When Mr McCullough continued to press Mr Lowry as to whether he had paid tax "at the appropriate time" or not, counsel for Mr Lowry, Mr Donal O'Donnell SC, intervened to say the tribunal counsel was "badgering" the witness.
The chairman, Mr Justice McCracken, said: "Well, the witness isn't answering the question."
Mr O'Donnell said it was an improper question to ask. The chairman replied that one of the things he had to investigate was the motive for these payments. "While I know it is embarrassing to your client and I appreciate he's doing his best to clear up his affairs now, it is relevant to the motive."
Mr O'Donnell said Mr McCullough was not here prosecuting a Revenue matter. He was investigating the matter at inordinate length, and no other person before the tribunal had their tax affairs inquired into in this way.
The chairman said, however, that Mr McCullough had put a very simple question.
Mr Lowry then said he was saying very clearly that the manner of the payments made by Mr Ben Dunne to him could facilitate the non-payment of tax. "But that was not my intention."
He hadn't asked for those monies to be paid in that way and he had "tried and tried" unsuccessfully to get his situation with Mr Dunne formalised and regularised. He added that this had been "the source of all of the anguish, distress, the strain and misery that has been inflicted on me over the recent times".
The chairman asked Mr Lowry why, if he was "as upset as all that about having money paid into foreign accounts", hadn't he "the next day" transferred it back to Ireland?
Mr Lowry said if one looked at the subsequent transactions, all of that money was transferred back into Irish accounts and all of that income "has been fully disclosed at some stage or other but especially in the final submission that I've made to the Revenue Commissioners".
Mr McCullough agreed with the chairman that he was not suggesting otherwise. He just wanted to know what the position was at the particular time.
Earlier, Mr Lowry said he had not been good at keeping records of his income.
The tribunal was told that amounts for which Dunnes Stores were invoiced on paper headed with the former Minister's company name, Streamline Enterprises, were treated by Mr Lowry as personal payments to him for consultancy work and equipment supplied by him.
Asked if he had paid tax on this income Mr Lowry said he had now employed professional advisers and had made full returns to the Revenue Commissioners.
Asked if he accepted that personal and company accounts were quite separate, Mr Lowry said: "I have always considered the company and I as one. I own the company. They are one and the same. Streamline Enterprises is my company."
Mr Lowry said he had stated publicly that all of his tax affairs were not in order and had apologised publicly for that. He had "made a full and voluntary disclosure to the Revenue Commissioners.
"I fully accept that I have a tax problem. I fully accept that I should have dealt with it in a more timely way."
Mr Lowry will resume giving evidence today.