Sep 2007
Fine Gael National Press Office Press Release | |||||||||
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| Monday 10th September, 2007 | |||||||||
Taoiseach Must Explain €300,000 Worth of Payments - Regan | |||||||||
This week at the Mahon Tribunal Bertie Ahern will have two days in the witness box to explain the origins of the equivalent today of €300,000 of cash payments or lodgments over a two year period when he was Minister for Finance in the 1990s, according to Senior Counsel and new Fine Gael Senator Eugene Regan. "The total monies involved (see table below) are very substantial and include so called goodwill loans that weren't paid back until exposed 13 years later, four separate lodgments that equated to £25,000stg, £20,000stg, £10,000stg and $45,000, another IR£50,000 that the Taoiseach had saved in cash and stored in a safe and further lodgments of monies to the accounts of the Taoiseach's then partner of several years, Celia Larkin. "It is these monies, and their origin, that almost brought down the FF/PD Government on two occasions. The Taoiseach failed to conclusively deal with the issue in the Dáil last autumn and again in the middle of the General Election campaign. While the Dáil debate last year on the issue focused on one or two payments what has now emerged from the Tribunal is that the Taoiseach was in receipt of many more payments which need to be explained. "It is evident that the Tribunal is not satisfied with the explanations given by the Taoiseach to date and has highlighted anomalies and glaring contradictions. In May the Tribunal's Opening Statement directly contradicted statements by Mr. Ahern on these monies. Inconsistencies identified by the Tribunal concern principally five payments: "The first was IR£22,500 that the Taoiseach claims was a loan from close personal friends to pay a legal bill. But the largest contributor Padraic O'Connor (the M.D. of NCB), has stated that he was never a close personal friend of the Taoiseach, and was asked and made his company's donation of IR£5,000 specifically as a contribution to the Taoiseach's constituency expenses. In addition the Tribunal discovered that the money was not used to pay off the legal bill in question. "The Taoiseach maintains that a second lodgment of IR£24,838.49 of the 11 October 1994 is accounted for by a second loan of IR£16,500 from close friends and £8,000 Sterling given to him following a speaking engagement in Manchester. However, the Tribunal has established that this sum equates precisely to £25,000 Sterling, which if confirmed undermines his explanation. "The Third payment under the microscope is that for the sum of IR28,772.90 which the Taoiseach maintains came from a payment of £30,000 Sterling given to him in cash by a Mr. Wall for the purpose of refurbishment of a house owned by Mr. Wall. Again there is a problem with this explanation in that the Tribunal has established that this sum equates precisely to $45,000 and not to £30,000stg. If this is a dollar payment, who was it from and what was it for? "There are two other lodgments of IR£11,743.74 and IR£19,142.92 which the Tribunal discovered were from deposits of Sterling. Mr. Ahern now claims that he took cash from his safe, transferred some of this cash into £30,000 Sterling and then converted it back into Irish punts thus accounting for the two lodgments. However, the Tribunal points out that neither Mr. Ahern nor AIB can produce any documents to back up this explanation. "The Taoiseach has at times expressed annoyance at the Tribunal's enquiries into his personal finances, yet this is the accepted methodology of following the money trail and only then making a determination on any link to allegations of corruption. Speaking in the Dáil on the McCracken Report Mr. Ahern endorsed this procedure stating the Government considered that following the money trail was the most effective way to progress an inquiry. "Another criticism of the Tribunal, made by the Taoiseach last autumn and this summer, was that it led to intense public scrutiny and intrusion into his personal, financial and family circumstances. However, the payments under investigation by the Tribunal have nothing whatsoever to do with Mr. Ahern's family situation. The reality is that all of the payments under investigation concern the period December 1993 to December 1995, which is after the finalisation of Mr. Ahern's judicial separation proceedings in November 1993. "The Taoiseach's appearance at the Tribunal next week must be seen in the context of the extraordinary peculiarities of his story: that he operated no personal bank account while Minister for Finance, that he saved precisely IR£50,000 and kept that sum of money in a safe; that he operated on a purely cash basis; that he has no records or any documentary proof of loans he alleged he received; that all the monies collected were unsolicited by him; that he was totally unaware of the collections until the monies was actually presented to him; that the two people whom he claims were responsible for the collection of the first set of loans and the one in Manchester are now deceased; that he can identify no one at the dinner of the 25 people in Manchester, other that the deceased Mr. Kilroe who gave him the money; finally, the suggestion that a solicitor (Mr. Brennan) would unknown to the Taoiseach, take it upon himself to approach the Taoiseach's personal friends for the purpose of arranging a collection of funds to discharge legal fees due to him, Mr. Brennan, and then subsequently not use the money for that purpose. "Mr. Ahern on the 10th of September 1997 speaking on the McCracken Report stated that it was unacceptable that people who have held high office and enjoyed a high degree of public trust should give evidence that is "unacceptable and untrue" or deliberately conceal vital information from the Dáil House or from a Tribunal established by the Dáil. This standard becomes applicable to the Taoiseach him self when he gives his evidence on oath this week." Ends Table 1: B. Ahern Finances: Lodgments & Withdrawals of Note (Dec. '93 - Dec. '95) Date and Event |
