Mr Charles Haughey did not ask the Agricultural Credit Corporation (ACC) to hide loans he took out with them between 1979 and 1987 to avoid "undesirable publicity".
In evidence given in private sittings and read into the Moriarty Tribunal this afternoon, Mr Haughey rejected that he had asked the State-run organisation not to register the loans. He claimed the loans were to fund the purchase of horses, but he said that looking back he may have been aware of the need for confidentiality.
He said "there may have been political fall-out because of someone like me borrowing from a State organisation" as nothing about him was "run-of-the-mill" as far as the media were concerned.
Mr Haughey was also questioned as to how two 1987 payments for £50,000 and £260,000 from two company's associate with property developer Mr John Byrne, which were sent to a Guinness and Mahon account ended up in an Amiens Securities account. Some £40,000 of the £260,000 payment was subsequently transferred into a Haughey-Boland account.
Mr Haughey said Mr Byrne had already publicly said he had never donated money to his personal finances. However, counsel for the tribunal Mr John Coughlan SC said Mr Byrne also said it was a "complete mystery" to him how his £260,000 loan went into the Amiens account.
He was also questioned about so-called "S" accounts, which Mr Jack Stakelum - who took over as financial adviser from the late Des Traynor - said in his evidence he used for Mr Haughey's bill-paying service, Mr Haughey said he accepted that was their function, "if he says so".
Mr Coughlan also asked Mr Haughey did he accept that between January 1988 and October 1992 over £3 million were made available in these secret accounts for his benefit.
Mr Haughey said he agreed monies generally had been raised for his benefit, but disputed the figure suggested.
Earlier today the tribunal heard how Mr Charles Haughey longed for the hearings to end and how he is unable to sleep at night.
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"I long deeply for the whole thing to come to a halt" and added: "I don't sleep at night and I'm increasingly having to resort to medication," he said.
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Mr Charles Haughey
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Answering questions relating to payments by Mr Ben Dunne between 1985 and 1991 Mr Haughey said he had "no recollection" of having received over £1 million in that period via his financial adviser the late Des Traynor.
The tribunal also heard that Mr Jack Stakelum, who took over from Mr Traynor, said in his evidence that between February 1991 and December 1996 he paid over £1.5 million on behalf of Mr Haughey in his capacity as his bill-payer.
Mr Haughey said he did not dispute Mr Stakelum had carried out such a service but said: "I was an ordinary citizen" for most of that time and said he was not in public service but was a TD in the Dáil.
Mr Haughey also said he did not know where the money came from but the same situation that applied with Mr Traynor applied with Mr Stakelum. He admitted he gave Des Traynor "full powers" to raise monies on his behalf.
Mr Haughey said he was not "good friends" with Mr Desmond although a £100,000 payment from the financier appeared in Mr Haughey's bank account the following October.
Mr Haughey said Mr Desmond had organised a meeting between him and the "four top economists in the country, well in Dublin anyway", out of his "public spirit" to discuss the dire economic state of the country prior to the 1987 general election.
He said he knew Mr Desmond from this meeting and as a result of Mr Desmond's "ambition" to establish the Irish Financial Services Centre in Dublin. Mr Haughey said this was the sum of his relationship with Mr Desmond.
The tribunal resumes on Tuesday.