Former taoiseach Charles Haughey personally authorised an Irish passport for a teenage girl linked to a millionaire Saudi bloodstock breeder who gave him money, the Moriarty tribunal was told yesterday. Colm Keena, Public Affairs Correspondent, reports.Passport for daughter of man believed to have made fraudulentapplication and linked to breeder who gave him £50,000
Jacqueline O'Brien SC, for the tribunal, said that civil servants in the Department of Justice believed Faten Moubarak, a minor, should not get a passport as they believed her father, Slieman Moubarak, may have received his Irish passport on a fraudulent basis.The civil servants believed Mr Moubarak may not have been living in Ireland, as he had claimed in November 1981, when he successfully applied for an Irish passport, nor did they believe Faten Moubarak or her father were resident in Ireland at the time of her application in 1987. Furthermore, the civil servants noted that in his application, Mr Moubarak had stated he was single and had no children. Yet in 1987 a passport was being sought for Faten Moubarak who, it was stated, was born in 1977.
The Moubaraks sought naturalisation under a provision that allowed the Minister for Justice to grant citizenship in cases where the applicant had been living in Ireland for the previous five years.
The Moubaraks are related to Mahmoud Fustok, an extremely wealthy Saudi bloodstock breeder who in 1985 made a payment of £50,000 to Mr Haughey.
Details of Mr Haughey's involvement in issuing passports to Ms Moubarak and his possible involvement in 14 other related naturalisations were disclosed yesterday in an opening statement by Ms O'Brien. It is the first time the tribunal has held public sittings into a decision made by Mr Haughey which may be related to a payment received.
Ms O'Brien noted that the tribunal had identified payments to Mr Haughey totalling £8.5 million. Mr Haughey was not represented legally yesterday and Ms O'Brien said his lawyers had informed the tribunal that they had not been able to discuss tribunal matters with him because of his ill-health.
Civil servant Bryan O'Brien wrote a memo on the application from Mr Moubarak in which he stated: "Given the doubts about his [ Mr Moubarak's] naturalisation and his or her residence here now, I recommend that Faten should not be naturalised."
At the time the minister for justice was Gerard Collins. Cathal Crowley, an assistant secretary of the Departmentt of Justice, gave Mr Collins a memo on the case. Ms O'Brien said Mr Crowley had told the tribunal that he was aware that Mr Haughey was applying pressure in relation to the application. He believed Mr Collins decided to adopt the view of his predecessor, Michael Noonan, and neither deny nor approve the application.
In a letter from Mr Haughey to Mr Collins, read to the tribunal, Mr Haughey said Mr Moubarak was "very anxious" that his daughter "who resides here also", should become an Irish citizen. The Moubaraks claimed they lived at 42 Wilbrook House, Northbrook Avenue, Dublin 6, but the department was concerned that they were not resident here.
Mr Crowley has told the tribunal that he eventually held a meeting with Mr Haughey who, in his view, made the decision that Ms Moubarak should be granted naturalisation on "humanitarian grounds". He said Mr Haughey stated, in a reference to the possibly fraudulent basis of her father's naturalisation: "The sins of the father should not be visited upon the daughter."
Ibrahim Moubarak (Date of naturalisation) June 1981
Razouk Daher June 1981
Philip Noujaim June 1981
Kamal Fustok June 1981
Bechara Anis Shoukair September 1981
Michael Albinia September 1982
Slieman Youssef Moubarak September 1982
Wael Khairi September 1982
Mohamad Moubarak September 1982
Mehsen Youssef Moubarak September 1982
Kamal Moukarzel December 1982
Adnan Moubarak December 1982
Leila Moubarak December 1982
Antoine Ghorayeb December 1982
Faten Moubarak May 19