Company cheque: The Opposition has claimed the disclosure that the biggest contribution to Bertie Ahern in Christmas 1993 was drawn on a company cheque undermines the Taoiseach's assertions about the money he received.
Fine Gael front-bencher Fergus O'Dowd said a report in The Irish Times that the £5,000 contribution from NCB Stockbrokers' then managing director Pádraic O'Connor was drawn from one of the company's accounts raised further serious issues for the Taoiseach, who was minister for finance at the time of the payment.
While there was no official response from Mr Ahern last night, sources close to him insisted that "he understood the loan to be from Pádraic O'Connor". The same sources said a repayment cheque from Mr Ahern last Friday was made out to Mr O'Connor personally.
Mr O'Connor did not return phone calls to his home last evening. He declined to comment when asked about these matters last Friday.
He was among a small group of finance industry figures who advised Mr Ahern during the currency crisis that led him to devalue the Irish pound early in 1993. He was made non-executive chairman of State bank ACC in 1999, the same year he left NCB.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, NCB and its affiliates won nine contracts or consultancy arrangements from seven State or semi-State bodies.
After a period in the ownership of Ulster Bank, the company is now controlled by its management and staff and the businessman Seán Quinn.
Mr O'Dowd and Labour TD Éamon Gilmore said that NCB must clarify how the cheque was treated in its own accounts.
"There is a clear obligation on NCB to make a full statement responding to this story," Mr Gilmore said.
"It must say whether or not the cheque in question was drawn on one of their company accounts. It must say whether or not the transaction remains on their books as an outstanding loan. And it should say how the transaction was described to company auditors."
However, NCB maintained its silence on the matter last night.
"We've said we're not going to comment. That's still the position at this stage," said the company's spokesman.
Mr Gilmore said the use of a company cheque "directly contradicts" the account of the Taoiseach in which he said he received a whip-around from personal friends.
"For instance, in his Six One interview on Tuesday last, Mr Ahern said 'these were close friends, they were not big business interests . . .'," Mr Gilmore said.
NCB's biggest shareholder in 1993 was businessman Dermot Desmond, who had relinquished his board and executive roles two years earlier.
Mr Desmond became chairman again in 1994, some eight months before Ulster Bank bought NCB for £19.6 million sterling.
