B/T ACCOUNT:COUNSEL FOR the tribunal Des O'Neill SC said there was almost no documentation to support any of the transactions carried out on the B/T account.
The only document available was a copy of the £30,000 cheque paid from it to Bertie Ahern's former partner Celia Larkin to purchase her aunts' house in Drumcondra, Mr O'Neill said.
The B/T account was opened in 1989 by St Luke's trustee, Tim Collins.
The tribunal was told it was set up for the maintenance and upkeep of St Luke's, the constituency office in Drumcondra of former taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
When the tribunal began inquiries into details of the account in January this year, Mr Ahern asked accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to prepare a report on it.
Mr O'Neill said Denis O'Connor, a partner at PwC, told the tribunal the majority of the explanations for the lodgements to the B/T account were provided by Mr Ahern from his handwritten notes.
Mr Ahern said yesterday that of 15 lodgements, eight had been identified as being donations to the 1989 election campaign.
"I was able to give them . . . chapter and verse," Mr Ahern said. He said he also gave data on withdrawals, including expenses for two golf classics and three functions held at St Luke's, including a Mass celebrated by Fr Hugh Daly, who was born at the house.
Mr O'Neill asked what documentation there was to show that these expenses had been paid out of the B/T account as opposed to any other of the accounts being operated at the time.
Mr Ahern said the constituency officers had checked and were totally satisfied that expenses had been incurred for these three functions.
"There was only one Mass in St Luke's in the 21 years I was there, maybe we should have had it more often," Mr Ahern said.
He said very few businesses would be able to produce an invoice 19 years after an event.
"You recently asked them to give the original of the sandwiches in the '89 election and to my horror they were able to find the original invoice . . . God knows what they have on me," Mr Ahern said.
Mr O'Neill said the explanations for the withdrawals were speculation.
Counsel for Mr Ahern Conor Maguire SC objected to the remark, saying the explanations were "the recollection of officers appropriately given."
He questioned the relevance of the questioning and complained that it was going on longer than expected.
Judge Alan Mahon responded that they were running over a little, "but in tribunal land we're not doing too badly if we finish by three o'clock".
Mr O'Neill said his questioning was relevant given that they were dealing with an account with almost £100,000 in transactions.
"It is acknowledged that not one penny of the expenditure from this account was spent on either the upkeep or the maintenance of St Luke's, which is the claimed purpose of the account," he said.
"On the other hand . . . expenditure has resulted in Ms Celia Larkin being given £30,000 from this account."
