Bertie Ahern's rejection of a possible dollar transaction leaves his account of events at odds with the inquiry's findings to date, writes Colm Keena.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has implied that the Mahon tribunal has made a serious error.
Mr Ahern yesterday implied that the tribunal made a blunder when it raised the possibility last April that he might have been involved in a dollar transaction.
The dollar issue was raised by the tribunal in relation to cash Mr Ahern has said he was given during a meeting in his constituency centre in Drumcondra, St Luke's, in December 1994.
Last April, Mr Ahern told the tribunal that he had been given £30,000 sterling.
The cash was given to Mr Ahern by Michael Wall, a Manchester-based Irish businessman who had just put a booking deposit on a house in Drumcondra. Mr Ahern has said it was envisaged that he would rent the house but allow Mr Wall to stay there when on visits to Dublin. At the meeting, Mr Ahern, Mr Wall and Mr Ahern's then partner, Celia Larkin, discussed the planned arrangement.
The money was deposited by Ms Larkin in an account in her name
on the following Monday. It was to be used for work on the house Mr
Wall was buying and to pay the stamp duty which would arise.
Ms Larkin was to be in charge of these matters.
Mr Wall told the tribunal in March it was his belief that the
money he gave Mr Ahern was an
even sum, £30,000 sterling, and that it was in £20
notes. However, he also said that some Irish punts
may have been included.
The amount lodged by Ms Larkin was £28,772.90. In other words, that was the amount of Irish punts lodged to the account she opened after the foreign currency had been converted.
Mr Ahern, in his interview with the tribunal in April, said that
he and Mr Wall discussed the arrangement concerning the house and
how Mr Wall was putting in £30,000 sterling. The tribunal
pointed out to Mr
Ahern that the lodgment by Ms Larkin (£28,772.90) fell
short of what the bank would have given
for £30,000 sterling on that day. It further pointed out
that the amount of Irish punts lodged represented
exactly what would have been received for $45,000 on the day
in question.
Foreign exchange transactions are worked out down to a number of
figures after the decimal point.
For an odd figure, including pence, to translate back into a
round figure amount when the exchange rate is applied would be an
extraordinary coincidence.
Mr Ahern has repeatedly rejected the suggestion that he was
involved in any dollar transactions,
and he did so again yesterday. Also yesterday, for the first
time, he said that the lodgment
"may have been a mixture of sterling and Irish pounds".
Mr Ahern said yesterday that, "at the appropriate AIB rate for dollars on that date, a lodgment of £28,772.90 would not equate to $45,000, but to $44,277.68".
On the face of it, Mr Ahern seems to be saying that the tribunal got its sums wrong. If the tribunal did indeed get its sums wrong, then the whole suggestion that there could have been a dollar lodgment has no basis, and Mr Ahern deserves an apology from the tribunal.
If the matter is a bit more complicated and the issue is whether
the "appropriate" rate was applied
by the tribunal when it was doing its sums, then the matter
is not so clear-cut, given the statistical
improbability of a round figure arising.
Banks use different exchange rates for currencies depending on
the amount of money being converted.
A bank making a mistake and applying the wrong rate would not
be as unlikely as an odd amount of pounds and pence happening to be
the equivalent of $45,000.
This matter is unlikely to be cleared up until the public
sittings of the tribunal open after
the election.