Haughey Boland link to Guinness & Mahon loans

A company  associated with the accountancy firm, Haughey Boland, is one of those listed in a Central Bank report into loans issued by Guinness & Mahon bank and backed by offshore deposits.

The 1978 report was part of the Central Bank's inquiry into concerns it had about the activities of the bank and the late Mr Des Traynor, architect of the Ansbacher deposits.

The report listed 17 loans totalling €6.4 million, which were backed by deposits in subsidiaries of the bank in Guernsey and the Channel Islands. Among those listed was Management Holding Company, with an address at 61 Amiens Street, Dublin 2.

In 1978, the directors of the company were Mr Annraoi O'Beollain (Harry Boland), Carrigbrack, Sutton, Co Dublin, and Mr James Donnelly, Leeson Park, Dublin 4.

A source close to Mr O'Beollain said that as far as he was concerned there was no offshore deposit matching the €78,000 loan and that he had said this to the inspectors investigating the Ansbacher deposits last year.

The shares in Management Holding Company were held by a number of people associated with Haughey Boland. These include Mr O'Beollain, Mr Donnelly, Mr Paul Carty, Mr James Stewart, Mr Michael Norris and Mr Michael McMahon. Mr Jack Stakelum and Mr Traynor were shareholders at an earlier stage.

Mr Carty, a retired former general manager of Deloitte & Touche, is challenging aspects of an inquiry by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland into the activities of some of its members as related to the McCracken (Dunnes Payments) Tribunal. In 1979, the year after the report, all the shareholders in Management Holding Company relinquished their shares apart from Mr O'Beollain, who kept one.

The other 99 shares were transferred to a company called Leaf Securities, also with an address at Amiens Street. Mr Carty returned to the board. Management Holding Company was wound up voluntarily in January 1982.

The company was called Secretarial Trust Company when it was incorporated in 1968 but the name was changed in the early 1970s. Another Secretarial Trust Company was then established. It still exists and is now a Deloitte & Touche secretarial services firm.

Haughey Boland merged with Deloitte & Touche in the early 1990s. A bill-paying service operated for Mr Charles Haughey was transferred to a firm run by Mr Stakelum at around the same time.

A spokesman for Deloitte & Touche said none of the partners in the firm was involved or has any knowledge of the loan referred to in the Central Bank report.

Other Irish companies listed in the Central Bank list include Roches Stores, stated to have a €768,037 loan backed by an equal deposit in Guernsey. A company spokesman said it would not comment on the matter.

Murray Europcar (€755,494), HB Dennis (144,303), Stephenson & Gibney (87,656) and Cassidy Silks (€137,699) were also listed as having loans backed by offshore deposits.

Beresford Investments, an Irish company incorporated by Kennedy and McGonagle solicitors in 1966, had a €253,000 loan backed by deposits in the Cayman Islands, according to the report. There is little on file in the Companies Registration Office concerning the company. Mr Traynor became a director in 1970, as did Mr William Forwood, of Guinness & Mahon. The late Mr Liam McGonagle was also a director. No shareholders are listed in the file. The company was dissolved in 1990 for failing to file returns.

Records concerning other companies listed could not be found in the Companies Registration Office. They may not be Irish companies. They include: MacCormack Properties (€571,382); Super Ser (€1.3 million); Gombrette (€445,028); Robert Wilson & Sons (€158,717); Watership Ltd; and Foxrock Securities Ltd (€11,769).

A number of individuals are listed. Solicitor Mr Gerald Hickey had a loan of €253,938 backed by offshore deposits. Mr Ken O'Reilly-Hyland, a member of the board of the Central Bank, had a loan of €292,040 backed by Cayman deposits. His late brother, Dermot O'Reilly-Hyland, had a loan of €187,879 backed by a deposit in the Caymans.