Culliton is first casualty of Ansbacher

Mr Jim Culliton yesterday resigned from the boards of three companies two days after it was claimed that his name was on the list of 120 senior business figures connected with Ansbacher (Cayman), the secretive unlicensed bank which is alleged to have defrauded the Revenue Commissioners since the 1970s.

Citing personal reasons, Mr Culliton resigned as non-executive chairman of the insurance company Hibernian Group and as non-executive chairman of the telecoms company Nortel. He has also resigned his directorship of the Jurys Doyle Hotel Group.

CRH, the company of which Mr Culliton was formerly chief executive, is to hold a board meeting today in the United States to consider the developments which have followed the appointment of three High Court inspectors to inquire into Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd. The High Court heard that eight of the company's 15 directors in 1987 were beneficiaries of deposits with Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd.

A CRH director in 1987, Mr Culliton was also chairman of the RTE Authority at the time.

A CRH spokesman said that he could not comment when asked if any board members were considering their positions.

Last week, the CRH chairman, Mr Tony Barry, said that he had transferred funds into an account with Ansbacher or a related company, Hamilton Ross, but that the money involved had been fully-disclosed after-tax income.

Mr Culliton has not commented on his involvement with Ansbacher (Cayman). Neither Hibernian nor Jurys Doyle would comment yesterday when asked if the board of either company had requested him to resign.

A spokeswoman for Nortel said that Mr Culliton had resigned voluntarily. "There was no suggestion that he was pushed", she said.

Mr Culliton is the first senior figure to resign since the findings of a confidential report on Ansbacher by a State-appointed authorised officer were read to the High Court in an affidavit.

In 1991, Mr Culliton was appointed by the then Minister for Industry and Commerce, Mr Des O'Malley, to chair a committee to develop an industrial strategy for the State for the 1990s.

Last Monday, he appeared before the Dail Committee of Public Accounts inquiry on DIRT tax in relation to his time as chairman of Allied Irish Banks.

A spokesman for CRH said that today's board meeting in the US was a scheduled monthly meeting and its location had not been changed. CRH board meetings regularly took place outside the State and the US was one of its major profit centres, he explained.

CRH has denied that its board ever approved or "knowingly permitted" a banking business to be conducted on its premises. However, the High Court affidavit, lodged on behalf of the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, claimed that a substantial number of CRH's directors in 1987 "knew an unlicensed bank [Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd] was operating from its registered office".

CRH's chairman between 1987 and 1994 was Mr Des Traynor, the man who set up and managed the Ansbacher accounts.