Ahern took loan even with £50,000 in savings

The Mahon tribunal resumed its public inquiries into the personal finances of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday, and matters quickly became both odd and unclear.

Former assistant branch manager with AIB O'Connell Street, Dublin, Philip Murphy, was questioned at length about a loan he approved and paid out to the then minister for finance, on Thursday, December 23rd, 1993, for £19,115.97.

No application form for the loan exists on the bank's files, no letter of sanction was sent out, no security was arranged, no repayment schedule was agreed and the interest was allowed to accumulate.

Mr Murphy agreed that if something had happened to Mr Ahern after the issuing of the loan, then the bank would have been in "an awkward position". The loan was "regularised" in June 1995 and cleared in January 1996.

It was clear from the questioning of the witness yesterday that the tribunal is not simply accepting the details of the loan at face value.

Mr Ahern has already told the tribunal he had £50,000 in cash savings by the end of 1993.

As Mr Murphy pointed out, it would have been cheaper for Mr Ahern to have settled bills arising from his separation from his wife, Miriam, with his savings, as this would have saved him the interest on the loan. He felt sure Mr Ahern had not told him about his cash savings when negotiating the loan.

In December 1993, Mr Ahern famously had no bank accounts in his own name. A form faxed to the tribunal yesterday morning indicates that on the same day (December 23rd) he negotiated a loan with Mr Murphy, the then minister for finance also signed a statutory form that had been filled out by Mr Murphy. This form, dated December 23rd, was necessary for the opening of a special savings account by Mr Ahern. The account was actually opened on December 30th, 1993, with a deposit of £22,500.

The bank was open on the morning of December 24th and closed then until December 30th. Tribunal counsel Henry Murphy SC asked if the money might have been handed to the bank late on December 23rd by Mr Ahern and not deposited until later because of the Christmas break.

Mr Murphy said that "to the best of my knowledge" Mr Ahern had not given him the money on December 23rd. If he had it would have been lodged that afternoon, he said.

Mr Ahern has already told the tribunal, in private session, that the £22,500 he lodged on December 30th was given to him on December 27th by a group of friends who wished to support him. He told RTÉ last year that this money was collected by his solicitor, the late Gerry Brennan, "unknown to me and unsolicited by me". He has said the money was intended to help him to pay his legal bills, but he had already taken out a loan to do that, so he put the money in a savings account instead. However, yesterday's evidence indicates he may have negotiated the loan and initiated the opening of the deposit account on the same day.

The loan was drawn down by Mr Ahern on December 23rd by way of a credit transfer of £1,302.36, a bank draft of £12,813.61 and a bank draft of £5,000. The transfer served to close an account in Finglas in the name of Mr Ahern and his wife. The £5,000 draft was cashed on January 28th, 1994, with £1,900 being withdrawn, and the rest lodged to an account of Ms Ahern. What happened to the third draft was not reached when evidence concluded yesterday.