FF funds ended up in building trust

FUNDS raised for the Fianna Fáil party were diverted into an account administered by businessman Tim Collins — the only signatory until earlier this year when two joint treasurers were appointed, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

He could not explain why IR£19,000 — described as the proceeds of a 1992 golf classic for Mr Ahern’s Dublin Central constituency — ended up in the so-called BT (building trust) account the witness controlled.

Another golf classic was listed as being held at St Anne’s club on July 18, 1975, at which £10,000 was raised. It was lodged to the BT account and Mr Collins could not explain why it was given to him.

FF documents show the constituency’s inaugural golf classic was not held until October 1997. Mr O’Neill suggested golf classics were held to raise funds for the constituency, not the BT account intended for the maintenance and upkeep of Mr Ahern’s constituency office.

Mr Collins told the tribunal: “I never hung onto accounts” when he was asked to explain why documents no longer existed.

Asked why he had not told the tribunal, when requested in 2006, about the BT account in the Irish Permanent Building Society, he said it didn’t relate to him, it was for the building trust.

No documentation existed relating to a loan of £30,000 from the BT account to Celia Larkin, the Taoiseach’s former partner, Mr O’Neill noted. Mr Collins described the transaction as a solution to a humanitarian problem.

Judge Gerald Keyes suggested it was unlikely £30,000 would be handed over without agreement unless it was his and not party money. Mr Collins replied it was not his money.

Mr Collins said he could not explain why a fund that was meant to be used as a contingency fund for St Luke’s was being used to pay for social functions and a loan to a FF staff member.

When it was decided to renovate St Luke’s, Mr Collins said he withdrew IR£20,000 in cash in August 1994 and put it in an envelope for Joe Burke, who was a builder and a trustee of St Luke’s, to seek advice on the project. But the project did not go ahead until several years later.

Mr O’Neill produced bank documents that showed stg£20,000 was exchanged and the equivalent in Irish pounds was lodged to the BT account in the Drumcondra branch of the Irish Permanent Building Society on October 10, 1994.

The exact same sum was lodged to the account that day in successive transactions, using the same teller’s machine.

Mr O’Neill asked Mr Collins if he knew whether the lodgment on that day was the proceeds of the Stg£20,000, or not.

Mr Collins said he did not know.