Analysis:
The Taoiseach's finances are complicated by the involvement of a number of large, sometimes round figure, cash amounts, writes
Colm Keena
.
The lengthy statement issued yesterday by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern adds little new to what was already known about his house and his finances.
The problem from Mr Ahern's point of view is that the details, as they are currently known, make more sense if it was the case that Manchester businessman Michael Wall fronted for Mr Ahern in the purchase of the house in Drumcondra in 1995.
In December 1994 when Mr Wall placed a booking deposit on the house, Mr Ahern by his own account had £50,000 in cash savings, and £22,500 he had just been given by a group of supporters and friends. Not only would he have had no difficulty buying his own house, he had political reasons to do so.
He told the Mahon tribunal last April that his wife, Miriam, knew of the savings he had accumulated. Why he didn't buy a house but instead entered into the unusual arrangement he has outlined with Mr Wall is not clear.
Mr Ahern said yesterday he didn't buy a house because at the time "my personal position was not stable enough". It would seem he was unsure as to how matters would pan out in his political career, and was hesitant about buying a house.
However, he then entered into an arrangement with Mr Wall where he gave his then partner Celia Larkin £50,000 which was to be used on expenditures on a house that would be owned by Mr Wall.
In the event he spent £30,000 on furnishing the house. It was an unusual move for a man who was feeling insecure as to his financial position.
Mr Ahern's friend and solicitor, the late Gerard Brennan, who had been introduced to Mr Wall by Mr Ahern some years previously, acted for Mr Wall in the house purchase, and acted for both parties when a lease agreement was agreed two years later. He also acted for Mr Wall in 1996 when Mr Wall signed a will that left the house to Mr Ahern in the event of Mr Wall's death, and to Mr Ahern's daughters in the event of Mr Ahern pre-deceasing Mr Wall.
And then, when Mr Wall sold the house to Mr Ahern in 1997, he did so at a loss when all expenditures on the house by Mr Wall are taken into account.
Much of the above fits a scenario where Mr Wall was acting as Mr Ahern's nominee. On the other hand, there is no clear reason why the two men would want to enter into such an elaborate and expensive arrangement.
Leaving aside the issue of the house, the nature of Mr Ahern's finances generally during the 1990s creates a difficulty for the tribunal.
The tribunal's inquiries have revealed a series of substantial lodgements involving round figure sums, some of them in sterling.
It has tried to follow a money trail back from these lodgements so as to establish that the money did not originate from any source which would be of relevance to its terms of reference.
The problem is that Mr Ahern's financial affairs involve a number of large, sometimes round figure, cash amounts. This creates a difficulty for the tribunal as cash does not leave a paper trail in the way money moved through the banking system does.
Likewise it creates a difficulty for Mr Ahern as cash does not allow him to show, definitively, where certain large round figure amounts he lodged, came from.
Mr Ahern has said he saved approximately £50,000 in cash over the years 1986 to 1993, and kept the money in safes in St Lukes and the Department of Finance. The tribunal has been unable to find anyone who can say they saw these large cash amounts in the safes.
The money was lodged in two bank lodgements at different dates in 1994, one for £20,000 and another for £30,000.
Then there is £30,000 sterling Mr Ahern and Mr Wall have told the tribunal Mr Ahern was given in December 1994, in cash, in connection with the house, and which was subsequently lodged.
As part of his arrangement with Mr Wall, Mr Ahern withdrew £50,000 from two of his own bank accounts, and had it lodged to an account in Ms Larkin's name. However, this money was subsequently withdrawn in cash, much of it converted into sterling, and the cash then kept in the safe in St Luke's.
Two lodgements to his accounts during 1995, one that involved sterling £10,000, and another that involved sterling £20,000, involved this money being relodged.
Again, because there is no paper trail, it is not possible to prove this series of events definitively, creating a problem for both the tribunal and Mr Ahern.
And again, it is unclear why Mr Ahern left such large sums in a safe, when he could have lodged the money to a bank, earned interest, and had greater peace of mind.