Ahern never counted £30,000 stuffed in case
Bertie Ahern's friend Michael Wall arriving at the Mahon Tribunal yesterday
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The Manchester businessman said neither he nor Mr Ahern counted the money and he got no receipt.
He also said he could not remember how much of it was sterling, some it may have been punts, and that there was no record of the payment in his own accounts.
Mr Ahern, who celebrates his 56th birthday today, will take the witness stand at the Mahon Tribunal tomorrow amid increasing pressure for him to answer an ever growing list of questions.
Intensifying the spotlight on Mr Ahern, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny called for “the full story and the full facts” from the Taoiseach at the tribunal. AIB’s top foreign exchange expert said she could not confirm Mr Ahern’s claim that a controversial lodgment of almost IR£30,000 was sterling.
In his first appearance at the tribunal, Mr Wall revealed the casual way he handed over the unsolicited cash to the Taoiseach to refurbish the home he was buying to rent out to Mr Ahern in 1994. He told the tribunal how he brought the case full of cash from Manchester and left it in the wardrobe of his hotel bedroom in Dublin before giving it to the Taoiseach.
“It was just as easy for me to bring cash as a cheque,” he said, adding that he “always had a back-up £30,000 in the safe”.
The Mahon Tribunal is seeking details of the payment because it claims a subsequent lodgment to Mr Ahern’s bank account by his former partner Celia Larkin doesn’t equate to Stg£30,000, but rather $45,000.
Ahead of the appearance before the tribunal of Ms Larkin today, Mr Wall said he has not spoken to her for a number of years as she is “out of the circle”.
Mr Wall said he had spoken to Mr Ahern about the payment but not to Ms Larkin. “I have had no discussion with Ms Larkin for a number of years. The last time I met her was two years. She is no longer in the circle, but she is still a friend of mine,” he said.
Mr Wall said he always dealt in cash and brought over the money to Dublin when he travelled over for Mr Ahern’s annual fundraising dinner. He said he counted out £30,000 from his safe in Manchester but said some could have been in Irish money for his own expenses in Dublin and that Mr Ahern would have got the balance of around £28,000 or £29,000.
Mr Ahern agreed to take the cash in his constituency office the day after the fundraiser, Mr Wall said. “We discussed that I had this money. I opened my briefcase and took the money out. He didn’t count it, and he called Ms Larkin in. It was suggested it would be put in the bank,” he said. Mr Ahern took the money, even though Mr Wall said Gerard Brennan, the solicitor to both men, “didn’t like handling cash.”
Appearing to change her testimony, AIB official Rosemary Murtagh told the tribunal she does not understand how a lodgment could have been sterling, as claimed by the Taoiseach. She said no bank records exist to show that Ir£28,772.90, lodged to Mr Ahern’s account on December 5, 1994, by Celia Larkin was in sterling, but “probably” could have been dollars.
Despite a challenge from the Tribunal, Mr Ahern’s legal team is refusing to reveal the ‘secret formula’ it claims proves the controversial lodgement to the Taoiseach’s bank account could only be sterling and not – dollars.
The Planning Tribunal has divulged its figures showing the lodgement made by Ms Larkin could have been dollars. But Mr Ahern’s legal team won’t produce the set of figures they claim show the £28,772.90 to Mr Ahern’s AIB O’Connell Street account could only be sterling.
Upping the stakes dramatically as Mr Ahern prepares to appear before the tribunal, Mr Kenny said the time had now come for Mr Ahern to “set the record straight” once and for all.
“His hour has now come. I hope that when the opportunity presents itself this week, the Taoiseach will leave no ambiguity and no confusion about these matters,” Mr Kenny said.
