THE ARCHITECTS: Two of Ireland's most prominent architects, Mr Arthur Gibney and Mr Sam Stephenson, held Ansbacher accounts as "back-to-back" security on loans to finance property deals in Dublin, the report reveals.
They were given advice in the early 1970s about depositing money with the then Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust by the late Mr Des Traynor, a partner in some of these deals, and by Mr Don Reid, described by Mr Stephenson to the inspectors as "the leading tax adviser in Dublin at the time".
Mr Gibney, president of the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts and a former president of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, still had the sum of £107,011 in an Ansbacher account in March 1997 and the account remained in existence until 1999.
Mr Stephenson held some £150,000 in his Cayman account until the mid-1970s, when it had to be withdrawn to pay off bank debts on property deals in Dublin. "I was in and out of the thing before it became illegal," he said yesterday.
Stephenson Gibney was the largest architectural practice in Ireland until its founding partners parted company in 1976. Among its major projects were the ESB offices in Fitzwilliam Street, the Central Bank and the first phase of the Civic Offices.
Asked whether monies which went to Cayman were part of his fees as an architect, Mr Gibney told the inspectors: "No, not necessarily. I think they were profits on selling lands, selling sites." But he added: "Part of the fees may well have gone out."
The property deals in which he and Mr Stephenson were involved, together with such partners as Mr Des Traynor, solicitor Mr Liam McGonagle, businessman Mr Ken O'Reilly Hyland and others, included the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club transfer to Appian Way.
Mr Stephenson, who told the inspectors he "understood the Cayman Islands was a kind of lump of sand in the middle of the Pacific", recalled being told by Mr Traynor at a dinner party celebrating the Fitzwilliam deal that he would make £110,000 out of it.
"There were a number of other transactions which produced profits of much smaller amounts than that, £20,000 or £30,000, and certainly my impression was I had round about £150,000 on deposit with Guinness & Mahon, all of which was under the control of Mr Traynor."
This was "the only occasion I remember him giving me a piece of paper with a figure on it", he said in evidence. Not long afterwards, during the property crash of 1973/74, his relationship with Mr Traynor went sour when he discovered his own home was at risk.
Having told the banker that he would fight "tooth and nail" to retain the mews house in Leeson Close, Mr Stephenson got back the title deeds. But Mr Traynor "took everything else I had on deposit, which I understood went some way to clearing our debts".
Mr Gibney also believed he was in danger of losing his mews house in Leeson Lane as he was "virtually bankrupt" at the time. However, because he had co-operated in clearing his indebtedness, Mr Traynor agreed to "set aside" a sum of £25,000 in 1977.
He had received "no documentation at all" on this or the earlier Cayman account. When he needed small sums of £2,000 to £3,000 for work on his house he would phone Mr Traynor and, after a few days, "he would tell me to come into his office or his house".
Though Mr Gibney regarded Traynor as "a great benefactor" with "a reputation as a whizz-kid", he also "intimidated me about money and my lack of knowledge of the financial world . . . I treated him with great respect . . . Whatever he told me to do, I would do".
Asked to explain how his Cayman account had a balance of £107,011 in March 1997, Mr Gibney said: "It must have been interest . . . I didn't put any money into any account in Guinness and Mahon or elsewhere." Neither had he returned the interest for tax purposes.
The first time he received correspondence on his offshore account was in January 1998 when he was contacted by the Moriarty tribunal. Mr Stephenson told the inspectors he had no documentation either and "no knowledge of Ansbacher whatsoever".
Asked if tax was ever paid on the money held in the Cayman Islands, he replied: "I have no knowledge of paying any tax or that there was any tax liable to be paid.
"It could not have been paid by me. I presume I would have to sign something."
