The head of an employment company says he does not know anything about an invoice that NCB executives say was used to cover a political donation to Bertie Ahern.
Desmond Maguire of Euro Workforce said he had sole authority to issue invoices from the company but knows nothing about a payment of £5,000 plus VAT in 1993.
Three senior figures from NCB have testified that a false invoice was used to facilitate the payment to Euro Workforce, a company linked to Fianna Fáil fundraiser Des Richardson.
Mr Richardson had owned Workforce, an employment agency and health and safety surveyor, which was taken over and renamed Euro Workforce by his manager Desmond Maguire.
NCB executives say the £5,000 payment was made for a health and safety survey that was never carried out.
Euro Workforce received a Bank of Ireland credit for 75% of the amount on foot of the invoice issued in December 1993.
Sums of £4,500 and £3,000 were paid out to companies linked to Mr Richardson within days of the cheque being issued by NCB.
Mr Maguire says he did not know the ins and outs of what was going into and out of his accounts on a daily basis.
He said the invoice must have got through without him knowing about it.
Widow 'unaware' of Ahern gift
The widow of a prominent auctioneer told the Mahon Tribunal she was unaware that her husband had given a £2,500 cash digout to MR Ahern.
Maureen Gunne said the first she heard of it was when her son contacted her after the Taoiseach's television interview last year.
Mrs Gunne said her husband considered himself a friend of Mr Ahern and had access to cash from his mart in Carrickmacross.
She said Mr Ahern attended her husband's funeral in 1997 and she met him a few times afterwards but he did not mention the payment.
When she received a cheque of €5,914 from Mr Ahern last October she decided to keep his letter and cheque for sentimental reasons.
Mrs Gunne said she donated an equivalent sum to a Mater Hospital lecture theatre dedicated to her late husband and wrote to Mr Ahern to tell him of this in case he thought she was a scrooge.
She said if Mr Ahern said the money was a loan from her husband then it was a loan.
She said her husband regarded himself as a friend of Mr Ahern meeting him socially and at matches but she could not say if he was a personal friend.
