Richardson only aware of loan this year

FORMER Fianna Fáil chief fundraiser Des Richardson told the Mahon Tribunal yesterday he discovered only this year Bertie Ahern had taken out a bank loan 14 years ago to meet legal bills arising from his marriage separation, rather than use £22,500 raised in a whiparound.

With Mr Ahern’s late solicitor Gerry Brennan, Mr Richardson was directly involved in helping to raise the £22,500 for that purpose.

At the time the Taoiseach was minister for finance, but as Mr Richardson told the planning tribunal yesterday “there was a general view in Drumcondra that he wasn’t in the best of shape financially”.

The whiparound was collected in the run-up to Christmas 1993 from “close friends” of Mr Ahern.

No receipts or written acknowledgments were issued, the tribunal heard. The plan had been for Mr Ahern to speak to and thank each of the donors personally.

Six of the donors, business people from south Dublin, gave £2,500 each. In addition, Mr Richardson gave £2,500 and Padraic O’Connor, who was then NCB stockbrokers’ chief executive, contributed £5,000.

Mr O’Connor used a £5,000 draft payable to Mr Richardson “for reasons of confidentiality”. For the same reasons, Mr Richardson said he made out his contribution using the Willdover Ltd account — used for invoicing Fianna Fáil for his services.

“I didn’t want the world and his mother to know I had given a cheque to Bertie Ahern,” he said yesterday.

In his own accountancy records, Mr Richardson listed the £2,500 as expenditure connected with the annual FF fundraising event for the O’Donovan Rossa Cumann, although he admitted it had nothing to do with that.

Confidentiality was the explanation for those entries, Mr Richardson insisted. But the only one who would see it was his own accountant, tribunal lawyer Des O’Neill SC pointed out.

Mr O’Neill suggested it went beyond confidentiality. He had already made out the cheque to cash and could have entered “cash” on the records but had falsely entered “Kilmainham function”.

Explaining how the £22,500 loan was conceived, Mr Richardson said it was originally intended to have 25 people attend a dinner and give £1,000 each. But as Mr Ahern was a very private individual it was felt he would be embarrassed by this.

“We were raising money to give a helping hand to a friend,” he said. It was common knowledge at the time that Mr Ahern was going through marital separation proceedings.

Mr Richardson said he was equally responsible with Mr Brennan, Mr Ahern’s solicitor, to see how they could raise the estimated £20,000 needed for Mr Ahern’s legal bills associated with the separation.

Instead of paying off the £19,115.97 loan he had raised on December 23, 1993, Mr Ahern deposited the £22,500 “goodwill loan” in a Special Savings Account (SSA) he opened with AIB bank.

Mr Brennan had given the money to Mr Ahern in the party constituency office, St Luke’s, on December 27. AIB records show Mr Ahern’s SSA was opened on December 30.

In effect, according to tribunal counsel, Mr Brennan was collecting his own fees from his pals.

Asked why the donors were asked to give cash, Mr Richardson said there was a view if they gave cheques Mr Ahern might say thanks but no thanks and give them back.

A second reason was they wanted to keep this matter confidential as they did not want to see cheques made out to a senior politician “floating about”.