Property developer Mr John Byrne (82) has handed control of his Irish companies to his wife, Ciara (60). The bulk of the shares in the Byrne companies have been held by a Cayman Islands trust since the early 1970s but the 10 controlling A shares have been held by Mr Byrne, his wife and their solicitor.
The latest annual return for Carlisle Trust, the Irish holding company that is in turn owned by the Cayman Trust, shows that all 10 A shares were transferred to Ms Byrne in March.
The shares were transferred by Mr Byrne (four) and solicitor Mr Anthony Gore Grimes (two). The accounts indicate Mr Gore Grimes held the shares for Mr Byrne.
The Carlisle Trust group is one of the largest suppliers of private office space to the public sector in Dublin. It owns buildings on Parnell Square, D'Olier Street, Townsend Street and Smithfield.
The Cayman Islands trust structure was put in place for tax reasons and to leave control of the companies with Mr Byrne while granting ownership of the companies to a discretionary trust.
A finding in the Ansbacher Report that the trust, the Prospect Settlement, was controlled by Mr Byrne is to be contested in the High Court. If Mr Byrne controlled the trust then the tax advantages that would otherwise be associated with it would disappear. Mr Byrne could then become liable for a very large tax bill going back decades.
The latest accounts for Carlisle Trust, for the year to December 31st, 2001, show it had net assets valued at £30 million (€37.8 million) on that date. The profit and loss account shows an increase in profit from £691,188 at the end of 2000, to £3.6 million at the end of 2001.
Carlisle Trust is the 100 per cent owner of a number of other Irish companies, including Smithfield Property Development Ltd, Alstead Securities and Dublin City Estates Ltd. The accounts for most of these companies are not yet ready for release by the Companies Registration Office.
During the year Carlisle became a one-third owner of Prince's Investments Ltd, the company that owns the Mount Brandon Hotel in Tralee, Co Kerry.
At the end of 2001, Carlisle Trust owed £529,451 in corporation tax. It had bank loans totalling £15 million and had provided guarantees for loans for subsidiary companies that totalled £20.4 million.
The latest accounts for Smithfield Property Development Ltd show it had net assets of £14.9 million at the end of 2001. The accumulated profit and loss account stood at £5.5 million.
A son of Mr and Ms Byrne, Mr John Byrne (30), joined the board of Prince's Investments in October 2001. The other directors are Mr Byrne and Ms Margaret Clifford. Ms Clifford's brother, Mr Thomas Clifford, resigned from the board in October 2001.
The company made a profit after tax of £81,168 during the year to October 31st, 2001.
Mr Thomas Clifford's one-third holding in the company was acquired by Mr John Byrne snr during 2001.
The accumulated profit and loss account had a balance of £2.9 million. The number of people employed was 151.
Both Mr Clifford and Mr Byrne snr featured in the Ansbacher report. Mr Clifford had an Ansbacher account through the former Haughey Boland accountant Mr Jack Stakelum, who placed money for Mr Clifford with the late Des Traynor.
Mr Traynor was a long-time associate of, and adviser to, Mr Byrne and his group. He was also the chairman of Ansbacher Cayman, the bank that acts as trustee to Mr Byrne's trust.
Mr Byrne told the inspectors that he returned from Britain to invest in Ireland after he was asked to do so by the former Taoiseach, the late Seán Lemass, who wanted offices built to house the expanding public sector.
Mr Byrne established a second Cayman trust in the 1970s to which he gave the ownership and control of his assets in Britain, which are also understood to be substantial.
