Former Irish PM Haughey took cash for favours
Tue Dec 19, 2006 2:18 PM GMT
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Former Irish Prime Minister Charles Haughey took cash from businessmen in return for favours over a 17-year period, a long-running investigation found on Tuesday.
The Moriarty Tribunal, which has been running since 1997, said in its 700-page report that Haughey -- who died in June -- accepted millions from wealthy businessmen that funded a lavish lifestyle at a time when Ireland was suffering economically.
"Mr. Haughey lived a lifestyle and incurred expenditures vastly beyond the scale of the public service entitlements which were his sole apparent income," the report found.
It rejected evidence given by Haughey -- who died aged 80 after a lengthy illness -- in which he justified accepting personal donations by arguing they were from "disinterested citizens seeking to assist a politician whose views they supported."
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http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-12-19T141830Z_01_L19221274_RTRUKOC_0_UK-IRELAND-PAYMENTS.xml
Haughey with Thatcher, Gorbachev, Major