Invoice made up to pay Ahern £5,000

A draft of £5,000 given to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in 1993 as part of a goodwill loan was made through the generation of a bogus invoice, the tribunal was told.

Counsel for the tribunal, Des O'Neill SC, said that Padraic O'Connor, former managing director of NCB Stockbrokers, had confirmed to the tribunal that a company called Euro Workforce Ltd issued an invoice for £5,000 plus VAT to NCB for carrying out a health and safety survey on premises in Mount Street, Dublin 2.

However, the survey was never carried out.

"To that extent it is bogus," Mr O'Neill said.

He said Mr O'Connor would acknowledge that the payment, which he says was for Mr Ahern's constituency expenses, was made on foot of this invoice.

"This invoice was produced so as to allow a cheque to be drawn on the account of NCB," Mr O'Neill said.

Former Fianna Fáil chief fundraiser Des Richardson said yesterday he did not know anything about the invoice, but if it was done that way, there was nothing particularly wrong with that.

He said it could have been a "pick-me-up" (PMU), an arrangement where a company picks up a debt for a political party. He said this had been done for Fianna Fáil for 35 years, but had been discontinued in 1998.

Tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon pointed out that if this was a PMU, it would be in respect of a debt owed by Fianna Fáil, but that didn't arise in this instance.

"It's not a million miles away," Mr Richardson said.

The £5,000 contribution was part of a £22,500 loan given to Mr Ahern in December 1993 to meet the legal bills which arose from his marital separation. The money was collected by Mr Richardson and solicitor and adviser to Mr Ahern, the late Gerry Brennan.

Some £15,000 was given in cash, there was one cheque for £2,500 and a draft of £5,000. The draft was made out to Mr Richardson and endorsed by him on its reverse.

Mr Richardson said he probably purchased the draft himself on December 22nd, 1993.

He told the tribunal the draft represented a contribution promised by Mr O'Connor. He said he asked Mr O'Connor for the contribution for Mr Ahern to cover his personal legal costs.

However, the tribunal heard that Mr O'Connor would say Mr Richardson asked him for a contribution to fund Mr Ahern's constituency office.

He would say Mr Richardson told him the office cost £20,000 to £25,000 to run and he would be approaching a number of corporations for donations.

Mr Richardson said he wouldn't know how much the office cost to run. "I've never been a member of the Fianna Fáil party," he said.

Mr Richardson acknowledged that he was told by Mr O'Connor in 2006 that he believed the donation was in fact made by NCB and was not a personal donation. He said he told Mr Ahern this in September or October.

"Why did you keep this information to yourself until then?" Mr O'Neill asked. Mr Richardson replied that he didn't see Mr Ahern in August or didn't see too much of him in September.

"When things came back into play again I went to see him," he said.

The tribunal was also informed yesterday that Euro Workforce Ltd, the company which generated the invoice for NCB Stockbrokers, had been called Workforce Ltd and was previously owned by Mr Richardson.

Mr O'Neill said the company made regular payments to Mr Richardson's company, Willdover Ltd, in 1993.