A wealthy Arab man sent a "top of the range" BMW to the then Labour Party TD Dr John O'Connell in 1980 as thanks for his sponsorship of a number of citizenship applications.
Dr O'Connell told the Moriarty tribunal yesterday that the late Mr Mahmoud Fustok gave him the gift after he had sponsored applications for citizenship for Mr Fustok's younger brother, Kamal Fustok, and three others.
"Mr Fustok sent me a top of the range BMW car, and left the car at my door, and I sent it back two days later," he said.
Dr O'Connell said the four men had fled Lebanon at the outbreak of civil war. He met them in Dublin in late 1979, and was told they had been living here for a number of years.
He also made representations to the then taoiseach, Charles Haughey, in relation to the men.
Dr O'Connell said that when he conveyed £50,000 from Mr Fustok to Mr Haughey in 1985, he had not asked what the money was for. He did not at the time think it was in relation to the passports issue.
He had in recent times discussed the matter with Mr Fustok, who said it was either payment for a horse or for a share in a stallion.
Mr Fustok was knocked down and killed in the US last month.
Dr O'Connell said he had a "peculiar" relationship with Mr Haughey and had eventually convinced Mr Haughey to retire on health grounds.
"I looked upon him as a friend. He looked upon me maybe as someone who suits his purpose."
Dr O'Connell transferred from Labour to Fianna Fáil in the 1980s, and was appointed minister for health by Albert Reynolds in 1993.
He told The Irish Times yesterday that he visited Mr Haughey in his office on the day he resigned as taoiseach in February 1992. "He was crying. The Taoiseach . . . He was sobbing. When he stopped I said: 'What about that money you owe me?' I said it as a joke."
This was a reference to an investment Dr O'Connell had made a few years earlier in Celtic Helicopters, a company run by Ciaran Haughey.
Some time later Mr Haughey returned the investment. "He said, 'there's no tax due on that'," Dr O'Connell said.
