Mr Bertie Ahern was not informed about the state of the party leader's allowance account, even though he was a co-signatory for cheques drawn on the account, the tribunal heard.
Ms Eileen Foy, Mr Charles Haughey's former private secretary, said only Mr Haughey was kept informed of the balance in the account and Mr Ahern was not shown the relevant bank statements.
As part of her duties Ms Foy administered the account, on which cheques were drawn for Le Coq Hardi restaurant, Adare Manor and Celtic Helicopters, among others. The account was in the names of Mr Ahern, Mr Ray MacSharry and Mr Haughey.
She said Mr Ahern often pre-signed large numbers of cheques, particularly coming up to Christmas, so that bills and expenses could be cleared.
Counsel for the tribunal, Mr John Coughlan SC, referred to the lodgement of two £50,000 cheques to the leader's account from the Irish Permanent in 1986.
Ms Foy said she had no memory of lodging the cheques but said she regularly collected statements in that year and others from AIB, Baggot Street, where the account was held.
"When you collected them [the statements] from the branch, you took them back to the office, is that correct?" Mr Coughlan asked. "That's right," Ms Foy said.
"And then you did whatever reconciliation you had to do on the statement, isn't that so?" Mr Coughlan asked. "That's right," she said.
"Were the statements made available to any of the signatories or account-holders?" Mr Coughlan asked. "I kept Mr Haughey informed of the state of the account. Whether I paraded in or out with the statements, I don't know," Ms Foy replied.
"What about Mr Ahern and Mr MacSharry?" Mr Coughlan asked. "I can't really remember the mechanics," Ms Foy replied.
"Was it only to Mr Haughey you reported about the state of the account?" Mr Coughlan asked. "When running low on funds, yes," Ms Foy said. "And not to the other account-holders as far as you can recollect?" Mr Coughlan asked. "As far as I can recollect," Ms Foy replied. She said the day-to-day operation of the account "boiled down to me" and when funds were running low, she went to Mr Haughey.
Mr Coughlan asked about the process involved when Ms Foy prepared a cheque for £25,000 in October 1986 which subsequently corresponded to a credit for the same amount in a Haughey Boland account used for Mr Haughey's "personal bill-paying service".
Ms Foy said she assumed the cheque was signed by Mr Haughey and Mr Ahern. "Whatever about Mr Haughey, you, in preparing the cheque, would have had to afford an explanation to the co-signatory, isn't that correct?" Mr Coughlan asked. "I was obviously given a very logical explanation," Ms Foy replied.
Mr Coughlan dealt further with debits from the leader's allowance account which corresponded to credits to the Haughey Boland account used to pay Mr Haughey's bills.
Ms Foy agreed that the explanation for drawing up the cheques involved would have been provided by Mr Haughey only. "If you were furnishing an explanation to one of the other co-signatories it would be that explanation that you would furnish," Mr Coughlan said. "Yes," Ms Foy replied.
Asked about the eventual use of the cheques, Ms Foy said: "I don't remember ever being told an amount was for Mr Haughey's personal use."
"Can we take it that you were never, when you were instructed to draw the cheques, never given an explanation that these were monies that would be expended for personal purposes?" Mr Coughlan asked. "That's correct," Ms Foy said.