Ansbacher deposits held with Irish Intercontinental Bank (IIB) shrank from £17 million to just over £2 million after the publication of the McCracken tribunal report in 1997, the Moriarty tribunal was told yesterday.
It also heard that £2.36 million in Ansbacher funds remains on deposit. However, this money had been effectively frozen.
Mr Tony Barnes, an associate director with the bank, said that while IIB recognised the Cayman banker, Mr Barry Benjamin, as having responsibility for the remaining funds, it was refusing to act on his instructions, pending the outcome of the various investigations into the deposits.
Mr Barnes said the last contact with Mr Benjamin was in October or November 1997 when he "agreed not to issue any further instructions until further notice".
Mr Barnes, who has been responsible for the administration of the bank's deposit-taking facilities since 1990, conducted an accounting exercise for the tribunal, showing the total amounts of money held in IIB in the names Ansbacher Ltd and Hamilton Ross, as Ansbacher later became.
In 1991, a year after Mr Des Traynor opened accounts with the bank, the deposits stood at £21.34 million. They rose to £25.01 million in 1992 and then fell steadily from £22.95 million in 1993 to £22.11 million in 1994 and £16.33 million in 1995.
They rose slightly to £17.66 million in 1996 but then fell dramatically to £2.18 million by the end of 1997.
Counsel for the tribunal, Ms Jacqueline O'Brien BL, said this followed the report of the McCracken tribunal and the establishment of the Moriarty tribunal.
Mr Barnes said these funds remained on deposit as he had received no instructions "in the last number of years" from Mr Barry Benjamin, who took over responsibility after the death of Mr John Furze in July 1997.
He said, as far as he knew, the bank first had contact with Mr Benjamin after Mr Furze's widow, Ingrid, informed IIB that Mr Benjamin had become a director of Hamilton Ross.
The tribunal was shown a letter which Mr Benjamin sent to the bank in September 1997 enclosing minutes from a board meeting of Hamilton Ross. These recorded that Mrs Furze, as the sole surviving director, had authorised Mr Benjamin to become a director. The meeting was dated August 7th, a month after Mr Furze's death.
