Funds diverted from FF fundraising for 'rainy day'

BT ACCOUNT:AN ACCOUNT into which money was diverted from Fianna Fáil election fundraising was set up "for a rainy day", the Mahon tribunal was told yesterday.

Tim Collins, a trustee of St Luke's who opened the "BT account" in the Irish Permanent Building Society in Drumcondra in June 1989, said the account was opened as a building trust. The money it contained was a "sinking fund" for a "rainy day". "The house committee . . . decided that if we had a surplus coming in . . . we would put a sinking fund together," Mr Collins said.

He said that in the event of anything happening to Bertie Ahern or if he left politics, the trustees did not want to be held responsible for any debt on St Luke's.

On November 11th, 1992, a cheque was written by Robbie Kelleher of Davy Stockbrokers in favour of Bertie Ahern, the tribunal was told.

Counsel for the tribunal Des O'Neill SC said it was intended for the 1992 election campaign, but was held until 1993 and then lodged to the BT account along with a further £5,000 donation.

Mr Collins said the feeling had been that they were going to have a very good election in terms of fundraising so the cheque was diverted to the BT account.

"You could not know this was going to be surplus to funds at the time it was received," Mr O'Neill said.

Mr Collins said the decision to divert the cheque had been made by the five members of St Luke's Trust, including himself, the late Paddy "the butcher" Reilly, Dublin Port Authority chairman Joe Burke, former Fianna Fáil fundraiser Des Richardson and the late James Keane.

Mr O'Neill asked Mr Collins if he had ever discussed the use of the Davy's cheque with Mr Ahern. Mr Collins said he had no recollection of doing that.

The BT account had been opened with more than £7,285 on June 6th, 1989.

An election account was also opened for the 1989 election in AIB in the names of Mr Ahern and Mr Burke, the tribunal heard. When the election was over it had a surplus of more than £17,000.

Mr O'Neill asked if some of the election funds in this account were diverted to the BT account.

"I'm not sure, I can't comment on that, I'm not sure," Mr Collins said.

Mr O'Neill said there was no real reason to open the BT account in 1989 for St Luke's, since it was purchased by the trust in May 1988.

"We discovered when the property was purchased that the building was sinking," Mr Collins said.

"I'll say this till I die, the BT account was a sinking account," Mr Collins repeated.

Mr O'Neill said Mr Ahern was not the legal owner of St Luke's and could have no liability in connection with it, so there was no reason to have a contingency plan for when he left politics.

The tribunal heard that the name of the BT account was officially changed in 2007, after the tribunal began making inquiries about it. It became the Building Trust/House Committee account and Mr Collins's name was removed. Mr Collins said he went on holiday when the tribunal contacted him and then became ill.

He said Mr Ahern came to see him in hospital and explained the problem with accessing the account. "I said whatever has to be done, do it . . . and I signed the mandate," Mr Collins said.

Mr O'Neill asked him why he did not change the names when he was ill in 1995, given that no one would be able to access it if anything happened to him.

Mr Collins said he had no logical explanation for why he did not.

In 2000, a £75,000 mortgage was taken out on St Luke's to carry out improvement work, the inquiry was told.

Mr O'Neill asked why funds in the BT account, of £47,000, together with a loan of £30,000 to Mr Ahern's former partner Celia Larkin, were not called in to fund the work.

Mr Collins said they always wanted the BT money to remain as a sinking fund.

"When the work had to be done, then let the people go out and fundraise to pay for that," he said.