The former managing director of NCB is incorrect when he says money was sought from him in late 1993 for Bertie Ahern's constituency operation and not for Mr Ahern personally, the tribunal has been told.
The former chief fundraiser for Fianna Fáil, Des Richardson, said he sought the money from Pádraig O'Connor to help Mr Ahern pay legal bills. He said Mr O'Connor's recall was incorrect.
He told his counsel, Jim O'Callaghan, that in subsequent years NCB had taken out tables at an annual fundraising dinner in Kilmainham, Dublin, held for the benefit of Mr Ahern's constituency operation. The contributions had been made by way of cheques to the O'Donovan Rossa cumann.
Mr O'Connor has told the tribunal in private session that a December 1993 payment of £5,000 to Mr Ahern was funded by way of an NCB cheque made out to a company called Euro Workforce Ltd, on the back of an invoice from that company, though it had not provided services to NCB.
The money was given to Mr Ahern by way of a draft purchased by Mr Richardson, though how the NCB cheque went to repay Mr Richardson is unclear. The Euro Workforce business had been sold by Mr Richardson to an associate, Des Maguire, in 1992.
Mr Richardson said it was Mr O'Connor who had first mentioned making the payment other than by writing a cheque to Mr Ahern. He said he had no recall of speaking to anyone about an invoice from Euro Workforce.
He told Des O'Neill SC, for the tribunal, that he purchased a draft for £5,000 based on the promise of a contribution from Mr O'Connor. A bank document received yesterday from the bank concerned showed the draft was bought with funds from a company called Roevin.
Mr Richardson said Roevin was an Irish company of which he had been a director along with two English directors, Brian Roebuck, from Cheshire, and Malcolm Hughes from Manchester.
The company was a former subsidiary of a Manchester-based plc but by December 1993 was no longer trading. Mr Richardson said he had the right to the funds remaining in its accounts, because he had been owed money by the parent.
Roevin had formerly owned the Euro Workforce business. Mr O'Neill asked if it was a coincidence that Roevin had been used to purchase the draft and the NCB cheque had been issued to Euro Workforce. "There's no connection whatsoever," Mr Richardson said.
The £5,000 draft was part of a £22,500 payment made to Mr Ahern in December 1993 which Mr Ahern has said he accepted on the basis it was a loan.
Mr Richardson said Mr Ahern sent a cheque representing his £2,500 plus interest to his home in September 2006. He said he endorsed the cheque and sent it back to St Luke's, Drumcondra, so it could be collected by Dermot Carew.
Mr Richardson said his cheque and those of a number of others were then sent to a Drumcondra charity, Cari. The eight cheques totalled €61,296. Soon afterwards he received a letter from Mr O'Connor who said he would not be cashing the cheque he had received from Mr Ahern as the payment made in 1993 had been from NCB and not Mr O'Connor.
The tribunal has been told a cheque was sent by Mr Ahern to the widow of another contributor to the 1993 payment, the late Fintan Gunne. Mr O'Neill said Ms Gunne had not cashed the cheque but had kept it as a "memento" while at the same time making a contribution of a similar amount to a charity.
