The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern contacted AIB earlier this year to see if it had found evidence of foreign currency transactions linked to three lodgments he had made in the 1990s, the Mahon tribunal heard yesterday.
The tribunal was told it appeared that at the time Mr Ahern contacted the bank, he was aware that the lodgments involved sterling cash amounts, though the tribunal and the bank did not know this.
In January of this year the tribunal began to investigate whether foreign currency transactions had preceeded three lodgments to Mr Ahern's accounts with AIB O'Connell Street, Dublin, in 1994 and 1995.
The tribunal contacted AIB and asked it to investigate its archives in this regard. In and around the same time, the bank official who was to search the bank's files, Jim McNamara, was contacted by Mr Ahern's office and asked about exactly the same three transactions and whether there was evidence of foreign currency being involved.
Mr McNamara told the tribunal he was contacted with the request by a woman from Mr Ahern's office. When Mr McNamara called the office later, he spoke directly with Mr Ahern.
Mr McNamara said Mr Ahern had wanted to know what information the bank had gathered for the tribunal "so that when he would have to answer any questions . . . he would be aware of the same information that we had submitted to the tribunal."
Mr McNamara told Des O'Neill SC, for the tribunal, that he told Mr Ahern that the bank had discovered "nothing concrete" to prove the lodgments had been preceeded by foreign exchange transactions. He said he told Mr Ahern the lodgment dockets had been stamped at the bank's foreign exchange desk, but this did not prove that there was foreign exchange involved.
Mr McNamara said he was "greatly surprised" when he was contacted by Mr Ahern's office "back to back" with the tribunal's query about exactly the same matters. During the previous two years, inquiries from Mr Ahern's representatives to the bank about his finances had not raised the foreign currency transactions.
Mr McNamara said Mr Ahern appeared to be interested in finding out if there was a foreign exchange element to the three transactions, but he agreed with counsel that the evidence now indicates that Mr Ahern already knew that there was.
Mr O'Neill said the tribunal had not made any inquiries of Mr Ahern about possible foreign exchange links to the three lodgment, prior to April of this year. "So how could Mr Ahern possibly be making inquiries of you?"
Mr Ahern's counsel, Colm O'hOisín, objected to the question, saying Mr O'Neill's question was on the basis that Mr Ahern was solely trying to find out what banking evidence there was.
The tribunal heard that in March the tribunal wrote to AIB expressing concern that not enough was being done by the bank in response to tribunal inquiries. The chairman said one issue was "whether in fact all the information that the bank had was forthcoming."
