| More questions for Taoiseach to
answer TAOISEACH
Bertie Ahern was facing unsettling new questions this week after admitting
he may face a tax liability after all for donations he received from friends
in Dublin and Manchester in 1993.
Mr Ahern released a com prehensive 13-page statement at the weekend on
the circumstances of the £30,000 payment made by businessman Michael
Wall in 1994 to the Taoiseach for the house Mr Ahern rented — and
later bought from him.
The statement was welcomed by Progressive Democrats leader Michael McDowell
who endorsed it as comprehensive and containing categoric assurances.
Insiders said Mr Ahern was confident he could now put the controversy
behind him and concentrate on his high-profile address to the British
Parliament in Westminster this week.
But while the statement offered the fullest explanation of his personal
finances a new controversy surfaced from another source.
In a separate interview the Taoiseach seemed to qualify statements he
made to RTÉ and the Dáil last autumn in relation to his
tax liabilities.
He told a Sunday newspaper he had been professionally advised about his
tax issues last autumn, but disclosed he had sought fresh advice to avoid
what he called ambiguities or misinterpretations.
He said: “On advice I made a provisional payment to cover any liability
which could arise.
“I understand this was accepted by the Revenue pending final agreement
as to any such liability.”
Later he told reporters that the issue related to a question of whether
or not Mr Wall had paid British tax.
Last October in the Dáil Mr Ahern said he had been separately advised
by two eminent tax advisers that he had no tax liability in respect of
the Manchester moneys.
He also told Bryan Dobson in an RTÉ interview that his advice was
that he had no tax liability from either the Dublin or Manchester payments.
The disclosure of a tax liability will lead to political claims that he
may have misled the Dáil.
Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte said: “Mr Ahern assured Dáil
Eireann that there were no questions of taxation arising. He now seems
to be saying that there are indeed tax issues.”
But Mr Ahern’s spokesperson said it was unworthy to suggest the
Dáil was misled.
In his 13-page statement the Taoiseach claimed a concerted leaking campaign
against him had been ongoing since last September aimed at discrediting
him and his party.
He again insisted he had done nothing wrong.
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