O'Connor denies Ahern friendship

A former managing director of NCB stockbrokers told the tribunal yesterday that he was not a close friend of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and he never made a personal donation to him.

Padraic O'Connor said he was flattered to be described as such, but did not consider himself to be a close personal friend of the Taoiseach. "Since I left NCB eight years ago, I met Mr Ahern once or twice."

He said he met a lot of people on a professional basis and was friendly with them, but would not characterise them as friends.

In evidence earlier this week, former Fianna Fáil chief fundraiser Des Richardson said he asked Mr O'Connor, as a friend of Mr Ahern, to make a personal donation to Mr Ahern in 1993 when he was minister for finance, to help cover the legal expenses associated with his marital separation. The contribution was part of a whip-around that raised £22,500 for Mr Ahern.

The tribunal heard that Mr Richardson purchased a draft of £5,000 for Mr Ahern, on the promise of Mr O'Connor's donation. However, Mr O'Connor maintained that the donation was never a personal one and was made by NCB for Mr Ahern's constituency expenses.

He said he was not a close friend of Mr Richardson either, but was aware that his barber of 20 years and Mr Richardson were married to sisters. He said he had bumped into Mr Richardson at the barber's on a number of occasions.

Counsel for the tribunal, Des O'Neill SC, asked Mr O'Connor if he had ever discussed the contribution with Mr Ahern after it was made. Mr O'Connor said he had not.

Mr O'Neill also asked if Mr Ahern had ever said anything to him about the money being a loan that would be paid back. Mr O'Connor said no.

"My surprise was total when I heard that first in the interview with Brian Dobson [on RTÉ in September 2006]," he said.

He said when he saw the RTÉ interview, he could not understand why Mr Ahern was saying what he said, that the contribution was a personal loan from Mr O'Connor.

He also said that up until then, Mr Ahern had never thanked him for the contribution, though Mr Ahern had said he thanked Mr O'Connor in January 1994.

After the RTÉ interview, Mr O'Connor received a letter from Mr Ahern enclosing a cheque. It said it was "in full and final settlement of the outstanding loan you very kindly extended to me all those years ago" and it apologised for "the delay in settling this long-outstanding matter".

Mr O'Connor said he never cashed the cheque. Instead, he took legal advice and then he wrote to Mr Ahern and Mr Richardson, but he did not tell Mr Ahern in his letter that he had never made a personal contribution or that the contribution was made by NCB.

Mr O'Neill asked why he did not make his position clear at the time. Mr O'Connor said the issue had come "out of the blue" and caused a "political maelstrom". He was uncomfortable and embarrassed about it, he said, and his instinct was to keep his head down.

"It was not my duty as a citizen to put in the public domain the alternative, what I knew had happened" he said.

Mr O'Connor recounted the details of the original request for money made by Mr Richardson. He said Mr Richardson called to his office and asked for a donation specifically for Mr Ahern's constituency expenses.

After the meeting, Mr O'Connor discussed whether or not to make the donation with senior colleagues in NCB, including financial controller Chris McHugh.

They decided they would make it, but they would keep it confidential.

The payment was made through a false invoice from Euro Workforce Ltd, the tribunal was told, a company formerly owned by Mr Richardson and which had made payments to him in 1993 and 1994.

Mr O'Connor acknowledged that he signed off on the false invoice, though he didn't recall doing so. He said when he saw the document he was 99.9 per cent sure that was the way the contribution to Mr Ahern's constituency was made.

He said he spoke to Mr McHugh in 2005 after he was contacted by Mr Richardson, who was looking for documentation on the contribution. He said Mr McHugh's recollection of the event was precisely the same as his own.