Ahern had £32,000 in savings account, tribunal hears

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern had £32,000 in a building society account in May 1995 when he told AIB his savings amounted to just £5,000, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

Mr Ahern’s savings were held in the Irish Permanent Building Society. He also had £50,000 in cash — personal savings from the late 1980s onwards — secured in a safe in St Luke’s, the Fianna Fáil constituency office in Drumcondra.

The tribunal heard how his AIB account was “regularised” in May 1995, 18 months after he took out an unsecured loan of £19,115.97 and had made no repayments over the period.