A new move by the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise and Employment to open up the Ansbacher deposits to closer scrutiny is to be challenged in the High Court today. The challenge is being mounted by Irish Intercontinental Bank (IIB), which is attempting to block an officer she appointed from gaining access to details of the controversial deposits.
The move by Ms Harney was prompted by an inquiry into the affairs of Celtic Helicopters, the company in which Mr Ciaran Haughey, son of the former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, is a substantial shareholder and director.
However, if the inquiry is allowed to proceed it is likely to open up the general operation of the Ansbacher deposits to closer examination.
IIB obtained an interim injunction and leave to seek a judicial review of the Minister's decision over last weekend, The Irish Times has learned. The judicial review application is listed for hearing in the High Court today.
An authorised officer appointed by Ms Harney to examine the affairs of Celtic Helicopters reported recently that he needed access to the Ansbacher deposits to complete his investigation. On foot of this report, Ms Harney appointed the same officer from her Department, Mr Gerard Ryan, to seek the details of the deposits from Guinness & Mahon and Irish Intercontinental Bank, the two Dublin banks in which the deposits were held.
Mr Ryan is seeking details of the links between the Ansbacher deposits and Celtic Helicopters, which were first outlined in the McCracken tribunal report. However, his brief is also likely to include investigating whether the operation of the accounts breached company or tax law in any other way.
In this way the investigation, if allowed to proceed, could go a long way to opening up the operation of the Ansbacher deposits. A spokesman for the Tanaiste declined to comment last night, saying the issue was due to come before the High Court shortly.
The Anbacher deposits were held by Ansbacher Cayman Ltd, a Cayman Islands bank founded by the late Mr Des Traynor, in two Irish banks, Guinness & Mahon in Dublin and the Irish Intercontinental Bank (IIB). The McCracken report found that the accounts were held on behalf of Irish depositors and in 1989 amounted to as much as £38 million.
IIB, which is owned by Irish Life and Kredietbank of Belgium, would make no comment on its court challenge, according to a spokesman.
Guinness & Mahon, the bank in which the deposits were held before being transferred to IIB between 1989 and 1991, is not party to the court challenge. This may suggest that Guinness & Mahon, which is owned by the Irish Permanent, is not seeking to block the bid by Mr Ryan to seek some details of the Ansbacher deposits.
Last September, shortly after the McCracken report was published, the Tanaiste appointed Mr Ryan as authorised officer to examine the affairs of Celtic Helicopters and to look for possible breaches of company law. The report had found that on four occasions funds from the Ansbacher deposits were used to support debts of Celtic Helicopters and in one case a bank loan was actually repaid out of the deposits. Since they were uncovered by the report, the Ansbacher deposits have led to considerable political controversy. The tribunal found that some of Mr Charles Haughey's living expenses were met from the accounts. However, it also said that a number of other Irish residents held substantial funds in the deposits.
The McCracken report found that the deposits were "a very ingenious system whereby Irish depositors could have the money offshore, with no record of their deposits in Ireland."
The accounts were controlled by Mr Des Traynor and, after his death, were operated by Mr Padraig Collery on the instructions of a Cayman Islands banker, Mr John Furze.
It is not clear how complete the records now held by the banks in Dublin are in relation to the accounts and the extent to which the information which the authorised officer will obtain will allow the account-holders to be identified.
Celtic Helicopters Ansbacher trail: page 17
