Bertie Ahern must leave "no ambiguity, no confusion, no unanswered questions" about his personal finances after his Mahon tribunal appearance, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has warned. Stiffening his rhetoric about the Taoiseach, Mr Kenny said the sums in question equalled €300,000 in today's money.
AIB's foreign exchange expert, he said, had contradicted the explanation offered by the Taoiseach's team. "This week offers him the opportunity to set the record very straight here. His hour has now come," Mr Kenny told journalists.
"I have always said that it is utterly wrong for people in high office to accept money for personal use. We have had confusing statements about amounts of up to €300,000 in today's terms having passed through the accounts of the Taoiseach," he said.
Mr Ahern had repeatedly said during questioning in the Dáil and elsewhere that he looked forward to appearing before the tribunal and "to clearing his name and clearing up any confusion about this", Mr Kenny said.
"Well, his hour has now come. I hope that when the opportunity presents itself this week for Bertie Ahern to answer questions that he will leave no ambiguity and no confusion about these matters and that the Irish people will be told where this money came from, who gave it to him and why he accepted it," said the Fine Gael leader.
Asked what the repercussions will be if Mr Ahern leaves unanswered questions, Mr Kenny said: "Well, then he has got a very serious problem. During the run-in to this election I made it very clear that Fine Gael would allow the tribunal to do its work. The Taoiseach himself said he looked forward to giving his statement.
"I am prepared to let him have his opportunity to clean up these issues. I hope that at the end of his testimony that there are no further matters of confusion; that there are no further contradictions; and that there are no further questions to be answered because the people will be given the full story and the full facts," he said.
"I am not going to predetermine what evidence he will give; but it is utterly wrong for people in high office to accept money for personal use. There are amounts here in today's value of €300,000, be they dollars, or be they sterling. But I want an end to this. But if the Taoiseach doesn't answer these questions then he faces a serious problem."
