Accountants engaged by the tribunal have found that a cash lodgment made by Celia Larkin in December 1994 equated to a round-figure dollar amount when a dollar exchange rate in use on the day in question was applied, the tribunal was told.
Ms Larkin lodged £28,772.90 on December 5th, 1994, with AIB O'Connell Street, Dublin, to an account she opened in her own name. The lodgment was preceded by a foreign exchange transaction.
Des O'Neill SC, for the tribunal,told AIB official John Garrett it had been indicated to the tribunal that this money "represented the lodgment by Ms Larkin of an amount of some £30,000 sterling which had been given by Mr Michael Wall to Mr [ Bertie] Ahern and in turn to Ms Larkin for lodgment". Mr Wall was at the time Mr Ahern's prospective landlord and the tribunal has been told the money was to be used on the refurbishment of the house Mr Ahern was to rent.
Mr Garrett agreed that none of the sterling rates used by the bank on the day would have led to a lodgment of the amount lodged by Ms Larkin.
He also agreed with Mr O'Neill that the only rate that could have led to the amount lodged by Ms Larkin being received for £30,000 sterling, would have been a rate "considerably worse" than the worst rate being applied for sterling on the day.
He also agreed that the bank's records indicated that the total amount of sterling notes purchased by the bank on the day had a value of IR£1,921.53.
The bank official, a foreign exchange expert, also agreed that if one of the exchange rates for dollars used on the day was applied and a £5 maximum commission charge deducted, the amount lodged equated to exactly $45,000.
The tribunal heard that while documents recording the actual foreign exchange transaction did not exist, the bank did have records showing the total value of sterling notes bought on the day and the total value of all other foreign notes purchased on the day.
The value of all other currency purchased was £28,969.34. The average total daily amount of non-sterling foreign currency purchased by the branch during the period was below £2,000.
Mr Garrett agreed with Mr O'Neill that the total amount of non-sterling notes bought on the day in question was sufficiently large to accommodate a $45,000 transaction.
Mr O'Neill showed documentation to Mr Garrett which recorded foreign exchange currency being remitted by the O'Connell Street branch to the bank's currency services division. Mr O'Neill said the documents indicated that the branch had remitted $45,000 to the currency services division on the day in question.
Mr Garrett said it was possible that someone in the bank had incorrectly transposed figures in the bank documentation. Mr O'Neill said: "Everything is a possibility."
A number of times Mr Garrett qualified his answers by saying this only applied if the bank's documents were correct, or if figures recorded in bank documents had been transcribed accurately at the time by bank staff.
