Some evidence by Ciaran Haughey is not accepted

Mr Justice McCracken said he did not accept some evidence by Mr Ciaran Haughey, Mr Charles Haughey's son and a director and major shareholder of Celtic Helicopters. Mr Ciaran Haughey told the tribunal he had not been aware the late Mr Des Traynor had paid off a loan of £150,000 which Celtic Helicopters had with Irish Intercontinental Bank. The money came from the Ansbacher Deposits.

"The tribunal cannot accept that directors of a company would not be aware that a loan of this magnitude from a bank to the company had been discharged, not out of the funds of the company, but by a third party," Mr Justice McCracken said.

The judge also referred to a payment of £10,000 made by Mr Dunne to Mr Ciaran Haughey. Mr Dunne gave evidence that Mr Haughey did a lot of helicopter piloting for him and put in long hours. The £10,000 payment was made to Mr Haughey on top of any payments he gave for hiring the helicopter.

"It would seem, according to this account, that this was in effect a bonus payment to Mr Ciaran Haughey personally, in much the same way as Mr Ben Dunne made bonus payments to Mr Michael Lowry."

Mr Ciaran Haughey's account of the payment was that it was for what he called a "consultancy service". Mr Dunne had asked him to look at the different types of helicopters which might be suited to Mr Dunne's needs.

When pressed, Mr Haughey said there was nothing in writing about the alleged consultancy, that no account had ever been sent to Mr Dunne, and that he had not given a receipt, the report said.

The tribunal "also considers it very significant" that the money was paid out of a bank account in Marino, Dublin, which appears to be used by Mr Dunne for personal reasons.

"The tribunal has no doubt that Mr Ben Dunne's account of the events is the correct one, and this was in the nature of a bonus payment to Mr Ciaran Haughey personally."

On four occasions funds from the Ansbacher Deposits were used to support loans or guarantees of Celtic Helicopters. In each case Mr Traynor made the arrangements.

A loan for £100,000 in March 1991 was backed by a deposit of £100,000 sterling from the Ansbacher Deposits. A loan of £150,000 from Irish Intercontinental Bank in May 1991 was backed by a deposit of £175,000 sterling from the S8 account in the Ansbacher Deposits. This is a sterling memorandum account held on behalf of Mr Charles Haughey.

In March 1992 £100,000 sterling from the S8 account was deposited with Irish Intercontinental Bank to back a guarantee by that bank of an overdraft of £100,000 Celtic Helicopters had with another bank.

In April 1993 money from the S9 deutschmark memorandum account of Mr Charles Haughey was used to secure a guarantee of $75,000 made by Celtic Helicopters.

Mr Ciaran Haughey denied any knowledge of funds being organised by Mr Traynor to back company loans or guarantees. Mr Justice McCracken said it was undoubtedly the case that the facility letters in respect of the three bank loans made no mention of a back-to-back deposit to secure the loans, but simply relied on personal guarantees from the directors as security.

"The tribunal accepts that it is a possibility that Mr Desmond Traynor made the backing arrangements without the knowledge of Mr Ciaran Haughey, but the tribunal cannot accept that the loan of £150,000 was actually paid off out of these monies without such knowledge."