THE meeting with Revenue saved Ben Dunne’s family £23 million - but he says he can’t remember it.

IT beggars belief that businessman Ben Dunne has no glimmer of recollection about meetings with the Revenue Commission chairman concerning a tax bill for nearly £39 million (€58.3m).

Former businessman Ben Dunne is giving evidence to the Moriarty Tribunal today about his relationship with the chairman of the Revenue Commissioners in the mid-1980s.

FORMER supermarket magnate Ben Dunne will appear before the Moriarty Tribunal today to answer questions about a meeting with Revenue Commissioners chairman Seamus Paircéir in 1987 to discuss a controversial tax bill issued to Dunnes Stores.

THE Moriarty Tribunal has heard that former Revenue chairman, Seamus Paircéir, argued down the valuation put on the Dunnes Stores family trust by his own officials by around £40 million.

A SENIOR tax official has admitted he was wrong to think the Revenue Commissioners had an agreement that Dunnes Stores would not be liable for any future tax on the group’s family trust.

A FORMER senior tax official has described a decision by the Appeals Commissioners in 1988 that Dunnes Stores was not liable for a tax bill of almost £39 million as “a piece of nonsense”.

FORMER supermarket boss Ben Dunne is expected to tell the Moriarty Tribunal that he simply forgot to inform an earlier public inquiry about an important meeting he had with the Revenue Commissioners which was arranged by Charles Haughey.

SENIOR tax inspector Seán Ó Catháin yesterday denied Revenue officials had ever behaved improperly in relation to the tax affairs of Dunnes Stores and insisted they had always “acted reasonably”.

THE value of Dunnes Stores for tax purposes rose from £82m to £220m within three years during the late 1980s, the Moriarty Tribunal heard yesterday.

A FORMER senior Revenue official yesterday told the Moriarty Tribunal that he disagreed with a decision of the tax authorities to wipe out interest payments worth £62,450 for Dunnes Stores in 1987.

REVELATIONS of clandestine introductions between the Taoiseach of the day, the chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, and a prominent businessman, whose companies faced a multi million pound tax bill, are the stuff of a Mafia novel.

THE chairman of the Revenue Commissioners held a series of meetings with supermarket boss Ben Dunne in 1987 at the request of then Taoiseach Charles J Haughey at a time when Dunnes Stores was facing a multi-million pound tax bill.

MAJOR questions will be raised over whether Ben Dunne received financial payback from former Taoiseach Charles J Haughey after a tribunal heard yesterday that the Dunne family had their tax bill cut by £22.8 million in the aftermath of meetings with the Revenue initiated by Mr Haughey.

AT 4.48pm yesterday, on the eve of the biggest news event of the year, the fax machines in newspaper offices across the country whirred into life.