Tribunal zones in on ‘dig-out’ and ‘whip-around’
Mahon Tribunal lawyers zoned in on a IR£16,500 “dig-out” he said he received from friends in 1994 following separation from his wife. It also focused on a stg£8,000 “whip-around” he said was handed to him in Manchester by businessmen after a dinner. Both were allegedly lodged and amounting to a total of IR£24,838.49.
Hosted by the late Mayo businessman Tim Kilroe, the Manchester dinner was attended by up to 20 Irish businessmen.
Mr Ahern could not recall the date but said it was either at the end of the football season in May 1994 or the beginning of the new season in August.
Mr Ahern met the same people regularly when visiting Manchester, he said, but could only recall a handful of those present when handed the stg£8,000.
He said the money was handed to him in an envelope.
He was never told the amount, claiming he counted it after returning home.
He had stored the money in his constituency safe, possibly for weeks, before lodging it in the AIB bank on O’Connell Street, he said.
In his original interview in April this year, Mr Ahern said the stg£8,000 would have been lodged almost immediately upon his return.
The money had been given as a personal donation, he said. He also admitted that if the same situation had happened in Dublin, he might have accepted it before new rules came into place governing political donations.
“Mr Kilroe never asked me to do anything at any stage,” he added.
Mr Ahern says the stg£8,000 was mixed with IR£16,500 from friends and lodged in AIB on October 11, 1994.
Tribunal lawyers argue however that currency rates for the day show such a lodgment is impossible. They say stg£25,000 was lodged.
Mr Ahern yesterday said he had added to or taken away parts of the stg£8,000 and IR£16,500 before lodging them. The IR£16,500 was a collection between four people by his friend Dermot Carew.
Both his lawyers and the tribunals disagree over different combinations of lodgements.
Des O’Neill SC, for the tribunal, said since the money was “blended”, it was impossible to identify the legitimacy of its source.
Mr Ahern yesterday conceded he had not met bank employee Jim McNamara while lodging the amounts, despite previously stating so.
He also admitted his accountant’s previous report to the tribunal about the two amounts was wrong.
IR£24,838.49 was lodged in the AIB account on the day, records show.
Mr Ahern said he could not be certain if he had lodged the money himself. The tribunal also produced a lodge slip showing Celia Larkin lodged IR£800 in the bank on the same day.
Mr Ahern’s evidence will continue next week.
By Aine Kerr
A: In 2005, the Mahon Tribunal began investigating corruption allegations surrounding the development of the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in west Dublin.
Property developer Tom Gilmartin has long maintained that the Taoiseach accepted £80,000 from the owner of the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, Owen O’Callaghan. The Taoiseach and Mr O’Callaghan have always vehemently denied this.
In October 2004, while investigating the alleged payment, the tribunal uncovered a series of payments to Mr Ahern during the early 1990s. This week, the Taoiseach has been asked to explain in detail how and why he received these payments.
A: The tribunal is attempting to obtain a comprehensive explanation for five separate lodgements to the Taoiseach’s accounts totalling £108,981.41 between December 1993 and December 1995.
Of note, is that £82,000 was lodged and withdrawn from the Taoiseach’s accounts during a 14-month period — a figure double the salary of the then finance minister.
This week, the tribunal has been trying to get to the bottom of apparent contradictions in the Taoiseach’s statements about the transactions.
For example, Mr Ahern claims that he made a lodgement consisting of a £16,500 loan from his Dublin friends, in addition to £8,000 from a ’whip-round’ in Manchester.
However, bank records would suggest that the lodgement equated to the exact figure of £25,000, pointing perhaps to a single lodgement. To date, the Taoiseach has failed to provide any significant details of the Manchester ‘whip-round’ of which he spoke, leading to questions about whether the event actually took place.
A: Central to this week’s line of questioning is a lodgement of more than £28,700. The Taoiseach has always maintained that this money relates to £30,000 provided to him by Manchester-based businessman Michael Wall for the refurbishment of his house which the Taoiseach rented.
However, the bank’s records show that it only bought sterling worth IR£1,921 on that day. It did, however, buy other currencies valued at £28,969.34 on the same day. By using one particular rate, this would convert to $45,000. The Taoiseach has consistently denied ever dealing in dollars.
If the tribunal can prove that the Taoiseach did receive a significant sum of dollars, it would potentially undermine and call into question some of his other financial statements. In addition, allegations have been made that Mr Ahern and Mr O’Callaghan were linked through a Los Angeles brokerage firm, Chilton O’Connor.
A: The final report by the Mahon Tribunal could be produced as early as next year. However, it could equally be delayed for two to three years depending on the direction of the tribunal’s investigations.
In the case of Fianna Fáil’s Ray Burke, who failed to make tax returns on over £100,000, a six month jail sentence followed.
Allegations that he had received £80,000 from a property developer led to the establishment of the Planning Tribunal chaired by Mr Justice Feargus Flood. The separate tribunal case of FF’s late Liam Lawlor found he received substantial sums from developers seeking to have their land rezoned.
Lawlor appeared at the tribunal several times, being imprisoned on three occasions for contempt of court.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
