Desmond gave up NCB chair

Mr Dermot Desmond "temporarily" surrendered the chair at National City Brokers in October 1991 in the middle of confusion and controversy over the sale of what became known as the Telecom affair.

Telecom had bought the former Johnson Mooney and O'Brien site in Ballsbridge for £9.4 million in May 1990, although the bakery's liquidator had sold the site one year earlier for just over £4 million. In between the site had been bought by companies linked to Mr Desmond, in deals which involved financing from Freezone, of the Channel Islands.

A government-appointed inspector, Mr John Glackin, investigated the affair and found in his report, published in July 1993, that Mr Desmond was the owner of Freezone, and not Mr Colin Probets, as had been claimed both by Mr Desmond and Mr Probets. He also found Mr Desmond was the owner of other companies involved in the deal, which Mr Desmond had denied ownership of.

The firms involved with the site included Freezone, Chestvale, Hoddle, Delion and UPH.