Property developer Mr Philip Monahan told the tribunal yesterday that when he gave a £25,000 cheque to Fianna Fail fund-raiser Mr Paul Kavanagh in 1991 he was not informed it was for the late Mr Brian Lenihan's medical fund.
Mr Kavanagh, however, said yesterday he had a clear recollection that he explained to Mr Monahan that the funds were being collected for Mr Lenihan.
The tribunal was told another party fund-raiser, Mr Roy Donovan, met Mr Kavanagh in the Shelbourne Hotel in January 1991. Mr Kavanagh told him that notwithstanding Mr Haughey's efforts, another £50,000 was required for the fund. Mr Donovan indicated that Mr Monahan could be a source.
Yesterday Mr Kavanagh said he had not remembered this second tranche when he last gave evidence but it came back to him when Mr Donovan told him about it.
The first witness, Mr Monahan, was asked by Mr John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, about the cheque made out to "Charles Haughey (Party Leader's Fund)": if he thought the money was for the medical fund, would he have instructed his solicitor to bring it to the attention of the tribunal? Mr Monahan said the question did not arise as it was for the Fianna Fail party.
"I'm absolutely sure I didn't pay it for the Brian Lenihan fund," Mr Monahan stated.
In heated exchanges, Mr Coughlan asked the question several times and Mr Monahan repeated that he did not make any contribution to the Lenihan fund.
Mr Coughlan said the £25,000 went to the party leader's account, and on the day it was lodged there was a drawing on the account of £12,914.50, owed to the Department of Defence for travelling expenses incurred by Mr Lenihan.
Mr Monahan replied that it had nothing to do with him.
Asked if he was surprised to be asked for such a large personal contribution, Mr Monahan said he had come under pressure from the Fianna Fail collectors.
"Unfortunately they all got tied into this collection, whatever it was. They seemed to have been very strong collectors in the Fianna Fail party and they put the thumb on you, and say you have to contribute. `The boss says you have to contribute' - a very strong turn of phrase - `the boss has been with me last night, we've had tea with him last night, I was out at Abbeville or wherever it was, and he listed you down, he'll write you a personal letter' - that sort of simple pressure," Mr Monahan said.
Mr Jerry Healy SC, for the tribunal, asked Mr Kavanagh about the cheque Mr Monahan gave him. Mr Kavanagh said he went to Mr Monahan's house. He had a clear recollection that he explained to Mr Monahan it was for Brian Lenihan.
"He foostered around looking for either his glasses or his pen at the time. We were standing in the hallway and he hadn't got whatever he said he wanted and said to me, `Here, will you fill this in?' and I actually filled it in his own house in front of him.
"My recollection is that I told him why I was there. . .that this was not the normal party stuff and there was a specific reason for that. He [Monahan] then went off and came back some time later with the cheque and said `Who do I make it out to then?'," he said.
Mr Healy asked if he was suggesting the reason he asked who to make it out to was because he was wondering was it Brian Lenihan or some hospital. "That was my understanding, yes," Mr Kavanagh replied.
Mr Healy put it to Mr Kavanagh that when he had last appeared in the witness box he had said that, after 1989, Mr Haughey never asked for any more money for the fund.
Mr Kavanagh replied: "Until this arose I'd actually forgotten about this second tranche. It was Roy Donovan that brought it back to me when he told me the sequence of events about the meeting in the Shelbourne and it all started to come back to me."
Mr Healy said Mr Donovan had said Mr Kavanagh had come to him in 1991 "in a bit of a panic" and said the public had no idea of the generosity of Mr Haughey's heart.