A £10,000 cheque from the horse breeder Mr John Magnier to Dr Michael Dargan was used to fund the establishment of Celtic Helicopters, the tribunal heard yesterday.
Mr John Coughlan, counsel for the tribunal, said the cheque was drawn on Mr Magnier's account at AIB's St Patrick's Bridge branch, Bridge Street, Cork and lodged on March 26th, 1985 in a Guinness & Mahon account in the name of Amiens Securities Ltd, which was controlled by the late Mr Des Traynor.
A total of £75,000 was channelled through this Amiens account in 1985 to form the initial capital of the aviation company. The account, numbered 08116008, was opened on January 17th, 1985 and closed on April 17th, 1985.
Mr Coughlan said Dr Dargan, a former chairman of Aer Lingus and director of Goff's Bloodstock Sales, had informed the tribunal "that it was never his intention to make any such investment in Celtic Helicopters or any payment towards the setting up of that company".
Dr Dargan had said the £10,000 was due to him by Coolmore Stud, under the control of Mr Magnier. He also told the tribunal he had no knowledge of how the sum came to be lodged in the Amiens account or how it became transferred to the account of Celtic Helicopters.
Mr Coughlan said he wished to stress the cheque payment from Mr Magnier to Dr Dargan "appears to have been a completely legitimate payment arising out of nomination fees".
The £10,000 payment was one of five lodgements, totalling £70,000, made to the Amiens account between March 26th and March 28th, 1985.
A lodgement of £10,000 on March 28th was a transfer from the Guinness & Mahon account number 05519055. Mr Coughlan said this appeared to be an account of Mr Seamus Purcell.
The three further lodgements, of £15,000 on March 26th, £10,000 on March 27th and £25,000 on March 28th, were sourced from Ansbacher accounts. A sixth payment to the Amiens account of £1,034.50 was made on March 26th, 1985.
At its last sitting, the tribunal heard that Mr Joe Malone, a former director general of Bord Failte, had made an investment of £15,000 in Celtic Helicopters, following what he said was a request from Mr Charles Haughey. This investment was kept in the name of Mr Malone's son, Joe jnr.
Mr Coughlan said the tribunal would address a number of issues, including who made the payments to Celtic Helicopters and whether they resulted in any benefit being conferred on Mr Charles Haughey or a company over which he had control.
In the course of his statement to mark the start of the latest sitting, Mr Coughlan said the tribunal would also be hearing further evidence regarding nearly £300,000 of funding raised in 1992-1993 for Celtic Helicopters.
At the previous sitting, the tribunal heard that a £100,000 payment made by Mr Michael Murphy in 1992 was lodged to an Ansbacher account in Zurich controlled by the late Mr John Furze. At the same time, a sum equivalent to £100,000 sterling was debited out of an Irish Intercontinental Bank account controlled by Mr Furze and credited to Mr Haughey's S8 Ansbacher account.
Mr Coughlan said the tribunal would consider whether, in the light of Mr Murphy's evidence, the £100,000 payment to Celtic Helicopters was held entirely on behalf of Mr David Gresty of DB Agencies, a Monaco-based company. In relation to the settlement of Mr Haughey's debt of £1.14 m with AIB for £750,000, Mr Coughlan said the tribunal would hear further evidence from directors, former directors and one former executive of the bank.
Mr Coughlan said the question would have to be addressed whether the settlement was "commercially justifiable in circumstances in which there was a genuine apprehension on the part of the bank that Mr Haughey had the will and the capacity to inflict damage" on it if a settlement was not reached.
Mr Coughlan said the work of this sitting of the tribunal fell under two broad categories. First, an examination of evidence which had not been made available to the tribunal for the public hearing which began on January 28th last; second, an examination of witnesses and documents touched on at the previous hearing.
