High Court report may yet unleash a few surprises

What is this report?It is a High Court inspectors' report into the operation of an unauthorised and secretive banking service which was used by some of the most powerful business people and professionals in Irish society from the 1970s to the 1990s. It will name depositors, many of whom used the bank for tax-evasion purposes.

Don't we know all of this already?

Much is known already about Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd and how it operated here under the direction of the late Mr Des Traynor. Also we already know the names of many of the depositors.

Among those who have been named are: Mr Charles Haughey; the former Fianna Fail TD Mr Denis Foley; the late Fine Gael TD Mr Hugh Coveney: the property developer Mr John Byrne; the auctioneer Mr John Finnegan; the solicitor and property developer, the late Mr Liam McGonagle; and Mr Traynor.

However, the report is thought to name in the region of 200 depositors and many of these people have not yet been publicly identified. There may yet be a few surprises.

But wasn't everyone evading tax in the 1970s and 1980s? What's the big difference between Ansbacher and Irish banks such as AIB, Bank of Ireland and National Irish Bank, which have also been the subject of inquiries into tax evasion?

A fair point. The main differences are: (1) Ansbacher wasn't authorised to operate here. Its activities were clandestine and probably primarily designed to assist tax evasion; (2) the people who were invited to use its services were mostly very significant business figures; and (3) Mr Haughey had an account and some of the depositors are known to have given him money. The main architect of the secret bank, Mr Traynor, was Mr Haughey's bagman. At its worst, the Ansbacher deposits could have contained within it, or could have become, a conspiracy to corrupt the State.

So, in brief and once again, what were the Ansbacher deposits?

Mr Traynor joined the board of Guinness & Mahon bank in December 1969. He and the late Mr John Guinness then set about establishing offshore subsidiaries in the Channel Islands and the Cayman Islands.

Mr Traynor then began to grow a complex secretive system whereby Irish residents could lodge money with him which he would treat as if it was lodged offshore. In some cases, it was offshore but in others the money was, in fact, on deposit here (in Guinness & Mahon) and could be withdrawn by contacting Mr Traynor.

In time, the Cayman subsidiary, Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust, was bought by the Henry Ansbacher group and re-named Ansbacher Cayman Ltd.

Later again, the deposits in Ireland were moved from Guinness & Mahon to Irish Intercontinental Bank. The existence of this unauthorised banking system was discovered in 1997, by the McCracken (Dunnes Payments) Tribunal.

What else should we look out for?

There may be a few well-known companies named in the report. The company with the largest concerns in this regard is probably Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH), one of the largest Irish companies during the period the deposits were in existence and one which has already been linked to them. Mr Traynor was chairman of CRH up to the time of his death in 1994 and he used his CRH chairman's office as a base from which to run his secret bank. A number of directors of CRH were depositors.

Other well-known companies may also be named. Mr Traynor was in his time a blue-chip business figure who provided advice and sat on the boards of a number of major companies.