A former minister for health, Dr John O'Connell, told the tribunal he did not feel it was his business to question a £50,000 payment from a Saudi diplomat to Mr Charles Haughey, which he personally honoured. Dr O'Connell admitted that with hindsight the transaction seemed unusual but he "didn't even bat an eyelid" over it at that time.
The payment was made in February 1982 after Mr Mahmoud Fustok, a brother-in-law of the Saudi Crown Prince, told Dr O'Connell he owed the sum to Mr Haughey, who was then the leader of the opposition.
Dr O'Connell said Mr Fustok gave him a cheque or bank draft for £50,000 during a dinner in London. The former minister said he presumed it was made out to him rather than Mr Haughey or cash because he lodged the cheque in his own account and wrote a separate cheque for the former Taoiseach.
He said he could remember clearly that when he told Mr Haughey he had the payment, he rep lied "in a gravely voice . . . `Make it out to cash'. It was very blunt, very much to the point, and there was no elaboration whatsoever."
Mr Haughey never said what the payment was for, nor did he show surprise about it, but then Mr Haughey was very seldom surprised about anything. Dr O'Connell wrote the cheque for Mr Haughey on February 18th and it cleared his account on February 21st, a day before Mr Fustok's cheque was cleared.
The former minister said he first met Mr Fustok in 1979. They shared an interest in horses and medical matters, said Dr O'Connell, noting "the only thing he hasn't succeeded in doing is converting me to Islam".
In 1981 he introduced Mr Fustok to Mr Haughey's daughter, Eimear, at the Goffs bloodstock sales, which he visited each year. She invited the Saudi diplomat to the Haughey home and they travelled there in "a very big limousine" which he had hired.
Dr O'Connell said Mr Fustok met Mr Haughey only once or twice apart from that occasion. In one instance Mr Fustok suggested to Mr Haughey that he should invite Crown Prince Abdullah on a State visit to Ireland. This was done after some delay. Dr O'Connell recalled: "There was a State reception for him and, as a result of it, I think, there were some presents given including jewellery and gold daggers."
He last talked to Mr Fustok earlier this year. The Saudi diplomat said he had heard Mr Haughey was in some trouble and re marked "the Irish people seemed very cruel". He asked Dr O'Connell to give his regards to Mr Haughey if he saw him. However, Dr O'Connell said he had not.
Mr Fustok subsequently sent a fax to Dr O'Connell last March at tempting to explain the £50,000 payment. It said: "I do recall purchasing a horse from the Haughey family some time in 1985 and I remember asking you to give him a cheque for £50,000 on my behalf." Dr O'Connell said this was the only time he was asked to make a substantial cash payment on behalf of a third party to Mr Haughey.
However, he was not surprised at the time by the request. "It did not occur to me to be suspicious of anything . . . You remember we didn't have tribunals then." He had no reason to distrust either Mr Fustok or Mr Haughey. "I knew Mr Fustok to be a man of probity and when he said `I owed that Mr Haughey', I wouldn't feel it was my business to question why."
Mr John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, asked whether anyone would have judged such a payment suspicious in 1985. Dr O'Connell replied: "Oh, heavens, no, and there was never any mention of, shall we say, inappropriate funding. I don't know when the beef tribunal was set up, but that was the first indication that we got."
