AIB lodgment:A stg£30,000 deposit which Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said was made by his former partner, Celia Larkin, does not show up in the records of her bank, according to an opening statement made at the Mahon tribunal yesterday.
Counsel for the tribunal Des O'Neill SC said bank records disclosed by Allied Irish Banks on the day in question show that sterling worth only IR£1,921.55 was exchanged at the branch Ms Larkin attended.
Ms Larkin made a lodgment of IR£28,772.90 on December 5th, 1994, in AIB's branch in O'Connell Street, Dublin, which was said by Mr Ahern to represent stg£30,000 in cash he had been given by businessman Michael Wall at his constituency office in St Luke's, Drumcondra.
Mr Wall was about to purchase a house at Beresford, Drumcondra, in which Mr Ahern lived and which he subsequently bought from Mr Wall.
Mr O'Neill said Ms Larkin's explanation for this lodgment was that Mr Wall had asked her to facilitate him in relation to the expenditure which he intended to incur in relation to the house.
The money was lodged with the intention that it would be used by Ms Larkin to pay for structural works and also to pay for stamp duty in relation to the purchase of the house, he said.
However, on examining bank records for the day in question, the tribunal found that the actual lodgment did not represent an exchange of a sterling sum of £30,000, given the exchange rates offered on that day.
Mr O'Neill said that if stg£30,000 was presented on that day, it would have been the equivalent of IR£30,159.85.
He said the bank record for December 5th, 1994, indicated that no transaction involving sterling bank notes with a value in Irish pounds greater than IR£1,921.55 took place.
"A customer presenting exactly $45,000 [US dollars] for exchange into Irish currency on December 5th, 1994, would have received exactly IR£28,772.90," Mr O'Neill said.
Mr Ahern has said that he was not involved in any substantial US dollar transaction.
Mr O'Neill said the records also showed that non-sterling foreign currency exchanges were made that day to the value IR£28,969.34, which would allow for a $45,000 transaction.
"At this time, the tribunal does not have details from AIB of the foreign currencies . . . which make up the total of IR£28,969.34 representing currency other than sterling purchased by the bank that day," Mr O'Neill said.
He said that during the inquiry, the tribunal would seek to establish the source and nature of the funds used by Ms Larkin to make the lodgment and would also examine whether the lodgment was the result of a foreign exchange transaction involving funds which had been provided by Mr Wall.
Mr O'Neill said the tribunal would also inquire into the circumstances in which information about Ms Larkin's and Mr Ahern's accounts was provided by AIB.
He said that although the bank official who had been involved in processing one of the sterling lodgments was also involved in providing details to the tribunal, the bank did not refer to the connection between the sterling exchange and the Irish pound lodgment.
"They stated that the lodgment docket did not identify the person making the lodgment, and that no further documentation . . . was held by the bank," Mr O'Neill said.
"Sterling exchanges conducted at the branch did involve the creation of contemporaneous documents which were not referred to in the bank's response to the tribunal."
Afterwards, counsel for AIB Richard Nesbitt said he was concerned that the casualness of the language used in the opening statement could be mistakenly taken as suggesting some criticism of AIB.
