Dunne Expected To Deny Wrongdoing At Tribunal

by Jason Gorringe, for LawAndTax-News.com, London

21 June 2005

Testifying before the Moriarty Tribunal later this week, owner of the Dunnes Stores chain, Ben Dunne is expected to argue that he did not behave inappropriately in the 1980's by meeting with the then head of the Revenue Commission, Seamus Paircéir and subsequently hiring him as a tax adviser to the firm.

It emerged at a Tribunal hearing last week that during his time as Irish leader, former Taoiseach, Charles Haughey arranged a meeting between Mr Dunne and Mr Paircéir during a period in which Dunnes Stores was facing a EUR39 million tax bill.

The Tribunal was told that the meeting, and the fact that the then chief of the tax authority helped the Dunnes Stores group to successfully appeal the tax liability, was not revealed to an earlier enquiry.

The Moriarty Tribunal is looking into whether "acts and decisions" undertaken by the former Taoiseach were influenced by the EUR8.6 million in personal payments that he received during his political career. It emerged during the previous McCracken Tribunal that Dunne had personally given Mr Haughey IR£1.1 million, but a further £300,000 afforded to the politician by Dunnes Stores in 1987 was not made known to investigators until recently.

According to a Sunday Business Post report, Dunne is likely to argue that he hired the former Revenue chief as his services represented a 'bargain' at just IR£10,000, and that he merely forgot to mention the earlier meeting with Paircéir when questioned on his contacts with tax officials during the McCracken Tribunal.

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