Ahern lodgment ‘unlikely’ to have been sterling

AN AIB foreign exchange expert yesterday said money lodged on behalf of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in a bank in 1994 could not be sterling, as he claimed.

Bank official Rosemary Murtagh said it was “unlikely” the amount over £28,700 (€42,000) lodged by Mr Ahern’s former partner Celia Larkin was in sterling.

Lawyers with the Mahon Tribunal argue the money lodged on December 5 was actually $45,000 (€32,500).

Mr Ahern — due to give evidence tomorrow — denies US dollars were ever involved. He says the money lodged came from Manchester-based businessman Michael Wall for the refurbishment of a rented house.

Bank records from AIB’s central currency service show £29,254.97 in Irish pounds (€37,100) received from its O’Connell Street branch on December 5.

Ms Murtagh yesterday agreed foreign notes from the North or the Channel Islands would have to have been included or normal bank procedures not followed for the amount lodged to have been sterling.

She said she had not understood previous claims by Mr Ahern’s lawyers about 67 mathematical permutations that could explain the lodgment as sterling.

“I didn’t understand the hypothesis... I was just listening. Obviously, he [Mr Ahern’s lawyer] had done something with the figures that I hadn’t seen,” she said.

Judge Alan Mahon ordered Mr Ahern’s lawyers to reveal the mathematical formulas backing up claims the lodgment was in sterling.

“I don’t see any reason why they have to remain secret... we don’t want to end up playing games. We want to see the combinations and want to see them as soon as possible,” he said.

Lawyers for the tribunal said they had tried their own 25 different combinations of foreign lodgments to examine if the payment was in dollars or sterling.

Ms Murtagh revealed though that it was possible some lodgments, in dollars and sterling, were amalgamated in branches before being passed onto AIB’s central currency service.

Colm Ó hOisín SC, for Mr Ahern, said there was no “secret formula” to explain the lodgment as sterling. However, it was important to understand the “ground rules” in how rates were applied to amounts and how they were recorded for branches, he stressed.

Mr Ó hOisín said a special remit rate would have been necessary for the amount lodged to have been $45,000 exactly. This had not been the case though, he noted.

Ms Larkin is scheduled to appear at Dublin Castle today to give evidence about the money lodged on behalf of Mr Ahern.