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U2 star Adam Clayton's former personal assistant oversaw payments for the multimillion-euro refurbishment of a number of his luxury homes, a court has been told.
Carol Hawkins, 48, is accused of embezzling 2.8 million euro of the bassist's money from 2004 to 2008. She has denied 181 counts of stealing cheques from two of the star's bank accounts on which she was a signatory.
Clayton, who is expected to give evidence at the Circuit Criminal Court in Dublin, sat attentively in a navy jacket and light shirt as his accountant and U2 financial controller Gaby Smith took to the witness stand.
Defence counsel Ken Fogarty probed the accountant on Ms Hawkins' responsibilities during her time as PA to the musician.
Mr Smith said when 50 million euro worth of work was being carried out on his Danesmoate mansion in Rathfarnham in 2008, it was her job to sign off on payments.
Work was also being done on one of Clayton's properties in London and one in Venice - for which Ms Hawkins was also responsible.
"At the same time this was going on, Carol Hawkins was dealing with transactions involving architects, certificates of architecture, interior designers and things of that nature. Is that right?" Mr Fogarty asked Mr Smith.
Under cross examination, the accountant confirmed one of Ms Hawkins' duties as an account signatory was to "sign off payments".
It was around September 2008 that Clayton became suspicious of Ms Hawkins and her spending, the court heard.
Mr Smith said she became hard to contact during that period - particularly on one occasion when Clayton was due to make payments to a certain friend and Ms Hawkins was required to sign off the transactions. Mr Smith said he thought this was due to distress caused by the break-up of her marriage in 2007.
