Ex-secretary accepts she made sterling lodgements

GRÁINNE CARRUTH, former secretary to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, has said that she now accepts she changed more than £15,500 sterling on behalf of Mr Ahern.

Having reviewed her evidence overnight, Ms Carruth said she would have to accept that "as a matter of probability it was sterling and there were transactions done".

On Wednesday, counsel for the tribunal had taken Ms Carruth through four transactions through Mr Ahern's Irish Permanent Building Society (IPBS) account in 1994. The first, a lodgement of £4,119.59, was made on March 9th. This was made after £4,000 sterling was converted to Irish pounds, producing IR£4,119.59.

On the same day, £1,000 sterling was converted to IR£1,028.40 and the same figure was lodged to the account of Georgina Ahern. And a further £1,000 sterling was converted to IR£1,028.40 and that amount was lodged to the account of Cecilia Ahern.

Documents showed the lodgements were made by Ms Carruth.

On May 9th, 1994, IR£3,518.99 was lodged to Mr Ahern's account and IR£1,000 was lodged to each of the accounts of Mr Ahern's daughters. On the same day £5,450 sterling was converted to IR£5,518.99. The transactions were again carried out on the same machine by the same teller and Ms Carruth's name was on the lodgement dockets.

Ms Carruth had accepted on Wednesday, when she took the stand, that she made the lodgements of Irish pounds, however she denied that she had handled any sterling for Mr Ahern.

Tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon had asked her to consider the documents overnight and consult with her solicitor Hugh Millar, before taking the stand again. Counsel for the tribunal, Des O'Neill SC, asked Ms Carruth if she now accepted she made lodgements to the IPBS accounts of Mr Ahern and of his two daughters on March 9th, 1994, which were the proceeds of £6,000 sterling.

"As a matter of probability, I do accept that," Ms Carruth said.

"I don't recall them, but I have to state that they've been done and that they were done in sterling and that's the way it is."

Mr O'Neill asked how she could have no recollection of such matters. "I don't know . . . I really wish I could," Ms Carruth said.

Mr O'Neill said Mr Ahern's solicitors had said Mr Ahern believed the source of the lodgements to his daughters' accounts were his salary cheques. He pointed out that when a sterling transaction took place, a receipt would be provided by the bank.

"What would you have done with that receipt, Ms Carruth?" he asked. "I always gave everything back to Bertie," Ms Carruth said.

"If it wasn't personally, it was left in his drawer . . . I don't know whether he still has it, but that was what I did."

Mr O'Neill asked Ms Carruth why she did not get in touch with Mr Ahern when she received documentation from the inquiry linking her to sterling transactions.

"Because my first priority was to protect; was to get my children sorted and then with his schedule he was away or that, so I never thought, I never thought of it," Ms Carruth said.

"Why is it that you did not contact Mr Ahern in the interim in relation to these matters which are of crucial importance to you and to your family, Ms Carruth?" Mr O'Neill said.

"Because I'm hurt," Ms Carruth replied. "And I'm upset."