LEGAL ADVISERS to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern contacted his former secretary, Gráinne Carruth, about banking transactions she carried out for him, before the Mahon tribunal was in touch with her, the inquiry heard yesterday.
Ms Carruth was contacted by Frank Ward & Co, solicitors to Mr Ahern, some time before it made a submission to the tribunal in June 2006 about a list of financial transactions they had queried in Mr Ahern's accounts, the tribunal heard.
The tribunal wrote to Ms Carruth after this date about her dealings with Mr Ahern's accounts, counsel for the tribunal, Des O'Neill SC, said.
Ms Carruth said she thought she was contacted by phone before she got the letter from the tribunal, but could not recall the exact date.
She said she agreed to meet solicitor Liam Guidera, of Frank Ward & Co, in the upstairs sitting room in St Luke's, Mr Ahern's constituency office in Drumcondra.
"Did Mr Guidera indicate to you why it was that he was seeking this information from you?" Mr O'Neill asked.
"He just said that the tribunal might be making contact with me," Ms Carruth said.
She said she was not asked about the particular lodgements being considered by the tribunal, but had simply said that she cashed Mr Ahern's cheques and made lodgements to his daughters' accounts.
"What was the purpose of attending . . . if it was not to identify which lodgements were made by you and what your role was in his [Mr Ahern's] banking affairs?" Mr O'Neill asked.
"Looking back now, it's my own stupidity that I didn't ask those questions," Ms Carruth replied.
She said she was not shown any of the documentation at the time.
Mr Guidera represented Ms Carruth when she attended the tribunal for private interview, but she then engaged solicitor Hugh Millar.
"Can you tell the tribunal why Mr Guidera is no longer your solicitor and you are now represented by Mr Millar?" Mr O'Neill asked.
"I was upset and this was coming on a daily basis to my door and I just wanted it out of my house, and my husband, my husband found Mr Millar," she said.
