Mr Kyran McLaughlin - a pillar of the Irish stock-broking community - kept detailed financial records dating back almost 20 years. And it was leaks from these records by a person who had easy access which ultimately led to his resignation as joint managing director of the Bank of Ireland-controlled broking firm.

On two occasions in the past week, there were leaks about Mr McLaughlin's financial dealings in the 1980s.

The first of these related to the discussions he had in the 1980s with Cayman banker Mr John Furze - one of the architects of the Ansbacher accounts currently being investigated by the Moriarty tribunal.

Mr McLaughlin was interviewed by the Moriarty tribunal's legal team about a document, "A note to John Furze" which was apparently prepared in 1983 by a senior member of the Irish financial services community following discussions with Mr Furze.

Mr McLaughlin told the tribunal that he had met Mr Furze but had not written the note in question.

It is understood that Mr McLaughlin told the tribunal's lawyers that Mr Furze outlined the Cayman scheme to him during a meeting in Dublin in 1983.

The "Note to John Furze" document was given to him by Mr Furze and Mr McLaughlin is understood to have told the lawyers that he filed it away. There it lay in his personal files until it was leaked by the person with access to those files.

Mr McLaughlin is believed to have told the tribunal's legal team that neither he nor Davy Stockbrokers had anything to do with the scheme, a statement reinforced yesterday by Davy's other joint managing director, Mr Tony Garry.

It emerged last Friday that a tax evasion scheme in Liechtenstein had been examined by a Dublin accountancy firm in the 1980s. Later it became clear that this scheme was prepared for Davy Stockbrokers in 1984 when the broking house was gearing up to sell 29 per cent of the company to Citicorp for an estimated £5 million.

Davy said, however, that it had not gone ahead with the scheme and that the proceeds of the sale to Citicorp had been subject to the appropriate taxation.

The highly complex Liechtenstein scheme involved no documentation in this jurisdiction and instructions were only given over the telephone or during meetings in Switzerland. Also the funds were not to be returned to this jurisdiction, save if they were "trickled back".

Mr McLaughlin's personal investment in the scheme two years later involved £250,000 of his after-tax earnings, and on this score there seems nothing untoward in terms of tax.

However, it is thought that his discussions with the Revenue Commissioners may centre on whether the appropriate tax has been paid on the income from the trust, the proceeds of which have yet to be distributed to the beneficiaries, Mr McLaughlin's children.

While this latest affair is deeply embarrassing for both Mr McLaughlin and Davy, it is understood that the broking firm told its clients yesterday that it is very much business as usual, with Mr McLaughlin remaining on as an employee working on specific projects, although he will have no management or executive role in the running of the company.

This is the second financial controversy in which Mr McLaughlin has been involved in the past seven years. In 1992, Davy was reprimanded and fined £150,000 by the London Stock Exchange after its failure to disclose that it failed to sell a large portion of 25 million Greencore shares being disposed of by the Government.

Instead, Mr McLaughlin and three of his fellow-partners bought 4.5 million of the unsold shares.

After an investigation, the London Stock Exchange reprimanded Davy and fined the company £150,000. At the time, Mr McLaughlin said: "Under the circumstances, we can't complain too much."

The exchange's disciplinary committee said: "Davy's conduct was, in some respects, detrimental to the interests of the Stock Exchange."

Davy's parent, Bank of Ireland, had to step in and buy all the unsold Greencore shares. The bank later sold these shares into the market.