Moriarty tribunal questions finances of Doyle hotels

The Moriarty tribunal is questioning details of financial arrangements made by the late Des Traynor for the Doyle hotels group.

In particular the tribunal is asking about a request from Mr Traynor to Doyle London Hotels Ltd, that a note in its financial accounts concerning a loan for £1 million sterling which was backed by funds lodged in the Cayman Islands, be deleted.

The tribunal has made inquiries about Mr Traynor, asking that the word secured be deleted from the note in the accounts. However, the Doyle group has said in response that it believes Mr Traynor's request may have been to have the whole note deleted.

This is because the loan was attributed in the note to the Dublin bank, Guinness & Mahon, when, in fact, it came from a London bank, Guinness Mahon & Co. The change to the notes was not made, probably as a result of an oversight, Doyles are believed to have told the tribunal.

The loan, taken out by Doyle London Hotels Ltd, was given without any charge being granted over assets of the Doyle group. The money was used to part fund the purchase and refurbishment of the Clifton Ford Hotel in London in 1983.

The facility was arranged for the company by Mr Traynor and the funds for the matching deposit were made available to Mr Traynor at the same time. Doyles has told the tribunal that Mr Traynor made the arrangements for depositing the money and that it was not aware of how exactly Mr Traynor structured the back to back arrangement for the loan. The group never received any statements from the Cayman bank. At the time the bank was called Guinness Mahon Cayman Ltd. It is now called Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd.

While the funds were deposited with the Cayman bank, the guarantee for the loan was given to the London bank by Guinesss & Mahon bank in Dublin.

The tribunal is also investigating two overdraft facilities, totalling £170,000 which the late Mr P.V. Doyle had with Guinness & Mahon bank since at least the early 1980s. The accounts were controlled by Mr Traynor and, according to the Doyle group, are understood to have been used "for the purposes of accommodating advances by the bank to Mr Charles Haughey".