Mr Charles Haughey said he did not remember looking for a loan for £400,000 in December 1982 for which he had sought exchange control approval to borrow the sum from Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust.
Mr John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, referred to an application to the Central Bank on December 8th, 1982, by Mr Haughey for exchange control approval to borrow on behalf of Abbeville Stud the sterling equivalent of £400,000 from GM Cayman Trust Ltd.
Asked if he remembered making an application, Mr Haughey said: "I'm not sure I do but now I see this letter here in front of me, I accept it is my letter and I made the application."
Mr Coughlan asked if he remembered looking for a £400,000 loan or the equivalent in sterling.
"No, but then I would be very clear that that letter would be drafted by Mr Traynor and given to me to sign," said Mr Haughey.
Mr Coughlan asked if he remembered Mr Traynor telling him the money had come in or that such a loan was ever paid back. Mr Haughey said he did not. Mr Coughlan asked how he thought it was going to be repaid.
Mr Haughey said: "It was an operation carried out by Des Traynor and I presume it would be attended to by him." Mr Coughlan said Mr Traynor on January 22nd 1985 applied to the Central Bank for a two-year extension of the exchange control approval, enclosing a letter from Mr John Furze, MD of GM Cayman Trust, to Mr Haughey at Abbeville Stud, dated January 2nd, 1985.
It started: "We wish to refer to our recent telephone discussion in connection with the extension of the present facility," and Mr Furze said they were prepared to extend the facility. Mr Coughlan said Mr Haughey must have had a telephone conversation with Mr Furze.
Mr Haughey said: "No, I would never have had a telephone conversation with Mr Furze. I am quite clear in my mind that the only time I ever spoke to Mr Furze, I met him quite en passant, at Des Traynor's funeral. That was the only conversation I ever had with Mr Furze."
Mr Coughlan pointed to the reference in the letter.
"I see that, Mr Coughlan, but the only thing I can suggest is that he is referring, in fact, to a telephone conversation with Mr Traynor, not me. I know the letter reads otherwise but I'm also equally clear that never did I speak to Mr Furze on the telephone or otherwise except on the one occasion that I met him. I'm absolutely crystal clear in that regard," Mr Haughey stated.
Mr Coughlan said the tribunal's analysis of the various accounts in his name and in Mr Traynor's name, had, as yet, been unable to trace this money going into any accounts or to see any evidence of monies going out to pay off the loan.
Earlier, Mr Coughlan referred to drawings on a G&M account in Mr Haughey's name to repay loans of £11,836.77 and £6,541.78 in June 1982 with interest payments of £4,717.94 and £129.55 in the name of Mr Haughey and Larchfield Securities Ltd to Merchant Banking Ltd. When the bank went into liquidation, the loans, taken out in 1976, were paid back.