AN elderly Dublin man fears he has lost over £200,000 in the Taylor scandal, despite making his cheque out to a bank.

The man, in his mid 70s, says he made out a cheque for £200,000 directly to Anglo Irish Bank and gave it to Mr Taylor. He has now been told the bank has no record of his account.

He said the money was supposed to be used to set up an account in his name at the bank's Isle of Man subsidiary.

However, when he inquired last week he was told that the bank had no record that he was ever a depositor.

He added that all he could assume was that Mr Taylor lodged the cheque to his own account. He added that the cheque was cashed at Anglo's Isle of Man subsidiary within six days.

"I thought that making the cheque out to the institution meant the money was safe," he said. "I can't believe I have now lost everything."

Other banks said this is always possible, as many professionals have accounts holding a variety of clients' money. Banking sources said all they can do is lodge a cheque to, whatever account the bearer indicates.

They say that for investors, it is not enough to simply make out a cheque to an institution. Investors should also mark any cheque with the name of the account to which they want the money lodged.

"The vast majority of people would have a receipt to prove an account has been opened. If Mr Taylor just took the money it would be very hard for any institution to look after that guy," the source said.

The man, who is now completely distraught, was expecting his first interest payments in August. He visited Mr Taylor three weeks ago to enquire about the money and was assured that, the delay was purely an administrative one on the part of the bank.

I came away completely reassured. When I saw the news two weeks after that he was being investigated I simply could not believe it," he said.

The man added that he has now handed over a copy of the cheque to an officer at the Department of Enterprise and Employment. The Department could not confirm this. Sources said the man had been asked to give the cheque to one of its officers.

A spokesman for Anglo Irish Bank said he could not comment on individual accounts. He added that any investor who believes he has money with any financial institution should reconfirm everything.

Meanwhile, it is understood that the auditor to some of the Taylor companies is seeking legal advice on whether he should resubmit certain accounts to the Companies Office. Two sets of accounts of Taylor Investment Planning Services Ltd (TIPS) covering 1992 and 1993 were withdrawn from the Companies Office at the request of Mr Taylor.

The auditor, Mr Niall Byrne of Niall Byrne & Co, qualified the 1993 accounts and both sets were returned to him on July 31st. Earlier this week, Mr Byrne said he would resubmit them, possibly at the end of this week.

It is understood that he intends to resubmit them, but is consulting solicitors on whether he can do this without a specific instruction from Mr Taylor, who has left the country.

Mr Byrne has said he never audited the accounts of Taylor Asset Managers.

When the authorised officer from the Department of Enterprise and Employment, Mr Martin Cosgrove, began investigating the Taylor group he agreed with Mr Taylor that he would work from the offices of Niall Byrne & Co "to facilitate confidentiality".

Mr Cosgrove arranged to meet Mr Taylor at the accountant's office on August 12th. However, Mr Taylor failed to turn up for that meeting. Staff at his offices said he had gone to England for an specified time".

Meanwhile, the fund management group Fidelity has reiterated that it has "no legal contractual arrangement" with Mr Taylor's investors prior to the termination of its "master agency" agreement with Taylor Asset Managers, as reported in yesterday's Irish Times.