The manager of the London bank where Mr Ray Burke says he had an account has told the tribunal it was "unlikely" that the bank held an account for the former minister.
Mr David Paddock, manager of the Allied Irish Bank branch in Berkeley Square, said he and his officials had searched for an account in the various names used by Mr Burke, but had failed to find any. He conceded he had no records before 1985, and his records for 1985 were incomplete.
Mr Paddock told Ms Patricia Dillon SC, for the tribunal, that banks in England normally retained correspondence for six years and ledger records for 12 years. He had personally inspected what limited records were available to the branch, which was transferred from Bruton Street in 1992.
The records did not indicate any accounts held in the name of "Raphael Burke" or "Patrick D. Burke". There was no record of such an account being closed since 1985.
He could not be definite about the existence of an account. "But our records do not indicate the presence of an account in any way, shape or form."
The tribunal has heard evidence of an interest payment allegedly made to Bruton Street from Mr Burke's Isle of Man account in April 1985. The former Bruton Street branch manager, Mr Timothy McHale, is to give evidence to the tribunal today.
Last January Mr Paddock instructed an official to carry out a further search of the surviving documentation. Some 105 storage boxes were opened from the Bruton Street period and the first year at Berkeley Square. No trace was found of any account in Mr Burke's names.
He told Mr Aidan Walsh SC, for Mr Burke, there was no record of the interest payment made in 1985. The records for that year were incomplete, he agreed. Mr Walsh said the account would not show up in the bank's records if it had been closed in 1984. The witness agreed.
Another AIB manager, Mr Sean Dowling, gave evidence of Mr Burke's account with the bank in the Isle of Man.
Mr Dowling, managing director of the Isle of Man bank, has given the tribunal the signature card for the account in the name of "Patrick D. Burke", the account statement and copies of debits from the account.
The signature card was signed by Mr McHale, who also entered an English address for Mr Burke. Some payments made to Mr Burke through the account went through Mr McHale in Bruton Street, the records showed.
The account was closed in April 1984 with a payment to Mr Burke of £38,948.03. Ms Dillon said it appeared this payment was made in cash in Bruton Street. Mr Dowling said he could not say.
