Bertie’s dig-outs, lodgments and loans: Following the lengthy money trail

IR£80,000

The origins of the investigation into Mr Ahern’s personal finances:

Businessman Tom Gilmartin claimed he had been told that property developer Owen O’Callaghan had paid Mr Ahern £80,000 in two tranches — £50,000 in 1989 and £30,000 some time in or around 1992.

Mr Ahern and Mr O’Callaghan both deny the allegations. Because of Mr Gilmartin’s claims, the tribunal demanded that Mr Ahern furnish it with details of all accounts held within or outside the State in his name or for his benefit.

Since the probe into the Taoiseach’s finances began, a number of payments and lodgments to accounts linked to Mr Ahern have come to light.

£22,500 — December 30, 1993

Proceeds of a whip-round arranged by the late Gerry Brennan, Mr Ahern’s solicitor, to cover legal bills arising from Mr Ahern’s separation.

The money was lodged to a newly opened special savings account in Mr Ahern’s name at AIB, O’Connell Street, Dublin, in December 1993.

This whip-round was arranged despite the fact Mr Ahern had personal savings of circa £54,000 at the time and, just a few days earlier, had taken out a bank loan of around £19,000 from the same branch to cover the legal bills. Mr Ahern says the whip-round was arranged without his knowledge.

£5,000 — January 31, 1994

Mr Ahern opened an account in his own name in the Irish Permanent Building Society in Drumcondra with a cheque of £5,000 — half of which was lodged, half of which was cashed. He told the tribunal in February that he had thought he knew the source of the £5,000 cheque, but efforts to confirm its origin proved fruitless.

He was able to remember, however, that it was a “a political donation for my personal use”. The money was not declared to the Revenue Commissioners at the time.

£4,119.59 — March 9, 1994

Lodgment made to the Irish Permanent account. The manager of the Drumcondra branch at the time, Blair Hughes, told the tribunal earlier this month that he believed it was originally a sum of stg£4,000 which had been converted to punts and then lodged to the account. Lodged by Gráinne Carruth, Mr Ahern’s secretary at the time.

£1,028.40 — March 9, 1994

On the same day, the above amount was lodged to an account in the branch in the name of Mr Ahern’s daughter, Cecelia.

Mr Blair told the tribunal he believed this was originally a sum of stg£1,000 which had been converted and lodged.

The lodgment docket was signed by Gráinne Carruth.

£1,028.40 — March 9, 1994

An identical lodgment, an identical pattern, but this time lodged to an account in the name of Mr Ahern’s other daughter, Georgina.

£7,000 — March 23, 1994

A cheque lodgment to Mr Ahern’s Irish Permanent account. He says this money came from his mother, and stemmed from the estate of his late father.

£30,000 — April 25, 1994

This money was lodged into two AIB accounts — £27,164.44 into Mr Ahern’s special savings account at the O’Connell Street branch and the remainder into his current account. According to Mr Ahern, the money came from his £54,000 cash savings, which he kept in safes at his constituency office in St Luke’s and his office in Government Buildings. Mr Ahern handed over the money in cash at St Luke’s to AIB official Philip Murphy.

£3,518.99 — May 9, 1994

Lodgment to Mr Ahern’s Irish Permanent account. Again, evidence of Blair Hughes indicates this money originally stemmed from a sterling sum converted into punts at the branch.

The sum was stg£5,450, which was exchanged into IR£5,518.99. The first £3,518.99 of this was lodged to Mr Ahern’s account, and the remaining £2,000 split equally between his daughters’ accounts, see below. The lodgments were carried out by Gráinne Carruth.

£1,000 — May 9, 1994

Believed to be part of the proceeds from the stg£5,450 changed in the branch that day. Lodged to the account of Cecelia Ahern, with the docket being signed by Gráinne Carruth.

£1,000 — May 9, 1994

As above, this time lodged to the account of Georgina Ahern.

£50.63 — May 10, 1994

Lodged to Mr Ahern’s account at Irish Permanent. Again, Blair Hughes’ evidence suggests this was originally a sterling sum, in this case stg£50. Lodged by Gráinne Carruth.

£1,434.15 — May 23, 1994

Cheque lodged to Mr Ahern’s Irish Permanent account. Ms Carruth signed the docket.

£20,000 — August 8, 1994

This was lodged to an AIB account in the name of Mr Ahern’s daughters. Again, Mr Ahern said this came from his £54,000 savings. As on the previous occasion, he handed the money over at St Luke’s to Philip Murphy.

£24,838.49 — October 11, 1994

Lodged to an AIB account in Mr Ahern’s name in the O’Connell Street branch. According to Mr Ahern, this lodgment was partly the proceeds of a second “dig-out” arranged for him in September 1994 [separate to the first whip-round in 1993].

The remainder of the lodgment stemmed from the monies given to him at the infamous dinner in Manchester.

According to some of the contributors, the second dig-out was arranged to help Mr Ahern with the purchase of a house and amounted to £16,500.

Mr Ahern said he added that to roughly stg£8,000 which he received as an unsolicited donation from a number of people at the Manchester dinner.

By this Mr Ahern was adding nearly £25,000 to almost £100,000 that he already had at his disposal.

The tribunal has also pointed out that the £24,838.49 lodgment equated exactly to stg£25,000 when one of the exchange rates used by the bank on the day was applied and a standard commission deducted.

Mr Ahern has denied, however, that this was a stg£25,000 transaction.

£3,970.19 — October 28, 1994

Lodgment to Mr Ahern’s Irish Permanent account. Blair Hughes’ evidence suggests once more that this stemmed from an exchange of sterling, this time of stg£4,000. Lodged by Gráinne Carruth.

£28,772.90 — December 5, 1994

Lodged by Celia Larkin, Mr Ahern’s then partner, to a newly opened account in her name at AIB O’Connell Street. According to Mr Ahern, this was the proceeds of £30,000, most of which was sterling, given to him by Manchester businessman Michael Wall to cover refurbishment work at the house which Mr Ahern was then renting from Mr Wall and later bought. The tribunal has suggested this could have been the proceeds of a $45,000 exchange. Mr Ahern denies this.

£50,000 — December 5, 1994

On the same day, Ms Larkin lodged £50,000 into another new account at AIB. This was said to have come from transfers from two of Mr Ahern’s own accounts — the special savings account [£28,000] and a deposit account [£22,000]. On January 19, 1995, the £50,000 was transferred from Ms Larkin’s account to another account in her name.

On January 27, the entire amount was withdrawn in cash and, according to Ms Larkin, returned to Mr Ahern in cash.

£10,060.71 — April 12, 1995

Cheque lodgment to Mr Ahern’s Irish Permanent account. Lodgment made by Mr Ahern’s long-time ally, and current TD, Cyprian Brady.

£11,743.74 — June 22, 1995

Lodged by Ms Larkin to a newly opened AIB account. The tribunal has heard this came from Mr Ahern, and was intended to cover expenses at the house.

This lodgment included a sum of stg£10,000 which was exchanged and lodged. According to Mr Ahern, the entire £11,743.74 lodgment stemmed from the £50,000 cash returned to him the previous January by Ms Larkin.

Part of the £50,000 was used to buy stg£30,000, according to Mr Ahern, hence the stg£10,000 given to Ms Larkin.

Mr Ahern cannot recall where and when the stg£30,000 was purchased. He says it was most likely purchased on his behalf by a colleague, but can’t trace any colleague who remembers changing the money on his behalf.

£19,142.92 — December 1, 1995

Lodged by Ms Larkin to Mr Ahern’s AIB deposit account. This stemmed from an exchange of stg£20,000 — the remainder of the stg£30,000 Mr Ahern says was purchased earlier.

£5,000 — December 21, 1995

Lodgment to Mr Ahern’s Irish Permanent account by Gráinne Carruth. According to Mr Ahern, this came from one of his brothers, and again originally stemmed from his late father’s estate.