A Guernsey-based company which manages trusts on behalf of wealthy Irish individuals has informed an authorised officer appointed by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, that it will not co-operate with his inquiry.
College Trustees, which is owed by Credit Suisse Trust Holdings, is a former subsidiary of Guinness & Mahon bank and is one of a number of companies to which civil servant Mr Gerry Ryan has been appointed as part of his investigation into the Ansbacher deposits.
A number of prominent Irish individuals are understood to have placed funds with the company in the 1980s and 1990s and it is thought that in some cases the money involved might have been hidden from the Revenue.
Solicitors acting for the Guernsey-based firm informed the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in October that it would not be co-operating with Mr Ryan's ongoing inquiry.
Mr Ryan, who was appointed to College Trustees in February, may now investigate whether it is possible to have the authorities in the Channel Islands appoint an officer to inquire into the company on his behalf.
The DIRT report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr John Purcell, published in July, said College Trustees placed deposits in Guinness & Mahon Dublin in a way similar to Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd, the Cayman Islands bank behind the Ansbacher deposits.
Mr Purcell was told by the bank that money placed in the Dublin bank by Ansbacher (Cayman) did not legally belong to Irish residents and therefore was not liable for DIRT. It said the money was legally and beneficially owned by the Cayman bank, which, in turn, "had a contractual obligation to its depositors to repay the amounts of their deposits". It was not a relationship where the bank held money "in a fiduciary capacity".
A number of companies associated with Guinness & Mahon, Dublin, and Guinness, Mahon & Co, London, placed deposits with the Dublin bank in this way. "These companies were Guinness Mahon (Guernsey) Ltd, College Trustees Ltd, Guinness, Mahon Jersey Trust Ltd, Overseas Nominees Ltd, and subsidiaries of Credit Suisse. The legal position of the deposits by these offshore entities with Guinness & Mahon (Ireland) Ltd is stated by the bank to be similar to the position set out above regarding Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd," the report stated.
The Moriarty tribunal has heard evidence that a 1987 cheque for £282,5000 sterling from Dunnes Stores (Bangor) and made out to a company called Tripleplan, was used to clear an overdraft in a Guinness & Mahon account belonging to Mr Charles Haughey. Tripleplan was a UK company owned by College Trustees and another company.
Shares in Clayton Love Distribution Ltd were sold by College Trustees in 1993 for £1.4 million to a subsidiary of the Irish frozen foods company. The shares were not owned by any director of the company, which is owned by Mr John Mulhern, a brother-in-law of Mr Haughey. It is not known who the beneficial owner was.
As well as College Trustees, Mr Ryan has also been appointed to Guinness & Mahon bank, Irish Intercontinental Bank Ltd, and Hamilton Ross Ltd (of the Cayman Islands), as part of his inquiry into the Ansbacher deposits. Three High Court inspectors were appointed to Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd in September.
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