Appleby moves to offices owned by Ansbacher client

The man appointed to root out malpractice in the corporate world has taken up residence in offices owned by the biggest customer of the late Mr Des Traynor's Ansbacher Deposits.

The office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, Mr Paul Appleby, has moved to No 16 Parnell Square, Dublin, a building owned by the property developer Mr John Byrne.

It was an affadavit from Mr Appleby in September 1999 which officially outed Mr Byrne as an Ansbacher client. At the time, Mr Appleby was a senior civil servant in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

A lease on the Parnell Square building is to be taken out by the Office Of Public Works (OPW), but is being held up because of a controversy over whether the developer has complied with planning requirements. A spokeswoman for the OPW said she could not release the details of the lease until it had been signed. Meanwhile, the building has been taken out "on licence".

Mr Byrne's Irish companies, which are in turn owned by a Cayman Islands trust, are one of the largest suppliers of office space to the public sector in Dublin.

Tenants of Mr Byrne's buildings include the Companies Registration Office and the Competition Authority, both of which operate from another building on Parnell Square, the courts service and the Department of Social, Community & Family Affairs.

During the application for the appointment of inspectors to Ansbacher (Cayman), Mr Appleby told the High Court that £17.5 million (€27.5 million) of the £24 million given out in loans by IIB Bank in the 1990 to 1997 period and backed by Ansbacher, were to companies run by Mr Byrne. The inspectors subsequently interviewed Mr Byrne about his Cayman Islands trust.

In their report they said Mr Byrne controlled the Cayman trust which Mr Byrne had argued was run at the discretion of his Cayman Islands trustees.

Mr Byrne is contesting the findings of the inspectors in the High Court. The case is pending.

Mr Appleby's new agency, which was established by the Tánaiste, Ms Harney to oversee the implementation of company law and the punishment of transgressors, moved to Parnell Square this week.

The building is owned by Alstead Securities, one of the companies in Mr Byrne's property development group.