Manchester-based businessman Michael Wall has told the Mahon tribunal how he brought nearly £30,000 in small sterling notes in a briefcase to Ireland and left it in the wardrobe in his hotel room on the night before he gave it to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at his constituency office.
Micheal Wall, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's former landlord, arrives at the Mahon Tribunal at Dublin Castle today. Picture PA.
Mr Wall outlined how he brought the money over from Manchester on the day he was to attend aFianna Fáil fundraising dinner held around December each year - an event he described as "my Christmas treat".
He put it in a briefcase in the wardrobe of his hotel room in the Aisling Hotel on Parkgate Street. Asked if his wife was aware of the money in the wardrobe, he said she was not.
The money, less about £2,000 which Mr Wall used to entertain a group of eight or 10 people at the dinner on Friday December 2nd, 1994, was handed over to Mr Ahern at St Luke's in Drumcondra the next day. He believed about 90 per cent of the money would have been in small notes, such as £20 notes because £50 notes were not common in the UK.
He said he met Mr Ahern for about half an hour at his constituency office, St Luke's, in Drumcondra, to hand over the money. He did not get a receipt.
Mr Wall took the stand shortly before 3.45pm and was questioned about the details of how he came to buy the house he subsequently rented to Mr Ahern at 44 Beresford Avenue in late 1994/early 1995. Mr Ahern later went on to buy the house.
Henry Murphy, counsel for the Mahon tribunal
Henry Murphy for the tribunal asked when Mr Wall handed over the money to Mr Ahern in the presence of his then partner Celia Larkin: "Were they surprised, were they agog, were they appreciative?"
Mr Wall replied: "No." When it was put to him that this was a lot of money, he asked "what's a lot of money?"
Mr Murphy said "it's a huge amount of money to have on your table on your Saturday afternoon at home". Mr Wall said it was not a lot to him.
As he took the stand this afternoon, he described Mr Ahern as a "close friend" but he said he had no interest in Irish politics. He was asked if there was any question that any of the money was given to Mr Ahern as a gift and he said there was not. There was also no question of it being given in return for favours from Mr Ahern he said.
Micheál Wall on Celia Larkin
The cash was to be used to build a conservatory and to carry out other renovation works at the house Mr Wall had just agreed to buy.
Mr Wall said he had "kept a few bob" to get back to Manchester. He could not say exactly how much money he gave to Mr Ahern, but said agreed it was probably in the region of £28,000. He had earlier told the tribunal in an interview he counted out exactly £30,000 from his safe in Manchester but said today he used some of that money for his personal use on the weekend in Dublin.
An amount of £28,772.90 was used by Celia Larkin, Mr Ahern's then partner, to open an account at AIB on the following Monday. That account was set up for the purposes of administering the money to be used for the house, the tribunal heard.
Some of it was later used to deal with stamp duty on the property.
Mr Wall, who ran a coach hire business, said he dealt in a lot of cash. The tribunal heard all of the money was properly accounted for through the computerised systems on Mr Wall's buses, regardless of whether he actually lodged it to the bank.
Asked by counsel whether he had any discussions with Ms Larkin about the tribunal inquiries, he said he had not had discussed anything of that nature with her and it was about two years ago when they last met. "She's no longer in the circle, but she's still a friend of mine," he said.
He was asked if he had discussions about the tribunal with Mr Ahern and said that he had. Mr Wall had contacted Mr Ahern and had received contact from Mr Ahern to see if he had any recollection of the transactions.
Asked by counsel for the tribunal if he had discussed the meeting at St Luke's and whether their accounts agreed, Mr Wall replied: "Yes." He replied "No" when asked if there was any area of disagreement.
He agreed with counsel for Ms Larkin that she had acted to facilitate himself and Mr Ahern in relation to Beresford. The money had not been given to Ms Larkin, but to Mr Ahern, he agreed. He also agreed he was satisfied that all of the money had been accounted for by Ms Larkin in respect of the Beresford property.