The legal team for the Flood tribunal just couldn't get it. Why would Mr Ray Burke knowingly break exchange control laws and incur unnecessary charges by moving large sums of cash in and out of the country? The whole thing was highly implausible.
"I chose to deal in cash," was the answer from the former minister. £20,000 in cash lay in his house for six months in 1994 because the political scene was frenetic and he "just didn't get around to doing it".
"That's all that happened. You can see Indians behind every tree if you want to but that's the reality of what happened," he said. Mr Patrick Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, assured Mr Burke he was not seeing Indians.
And there was nothing unusual about raising £50,000 or £60,000 between elections. Everybody did it. The best, most successful of them all was none other than the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern.
"He's the No 1 politician in the country," Mr Burke announced proudly, adding that the Taoiseach's annual dinner could net anything between £30,000 and £50,000.
If the large sums he received were not for political purposes surely he would have invested in property and had a lavish, extravagant lifestyle, Mr Burke said in response to questions about the true nature of the donations. Instead he had a modest lifestyle and went on only one holiday a year.
But it was a day of apologies and coming clean for Mr Burke. Yes, he did break the law by taking money out of the country during a time when he served on and off as minister. No, he never thought he was above the law. Yes, he did mislead the Dail during those traumatic days in September 1997 before he resigned as minister for foreign affairs.
But there were no apologies from the chairman, Mr Justice Flood, when he was accused by Mr Burke's barrister, Mr Aidan Walsh SC, of looking "angrily" at him at one point.
Mr Walsh was in an accusatory mood yesterday and also demanded that Mr Hanratty respect his client and not refer to him as "Burke". Mr Hanratty assured him he had said "Mr Burke" and the transcript showed likewise.