Report of Ansbacher inspectors due later this year

The report of the inspectors investigating the Ansbacher deposits is not expected to be completed until the second quarter of this year, according to internal Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment documentation, writes Colm Keena.

The general election is expected to take place in the first week of May, so publication may not take place until after the vote. Alternatively, the report could be published in the immediate run-up to the vote.

The cost of the inquiry has now exceeded €2.54 million (£2 million), including payments to the inspectors themselves of €1.07 million. The inquiry began in September 1999.

A letter written on January 3rd requested extended sanction for the payment of a civil servant seconded to the inquiry, "as the investigation is still ongoing and it appears that it will not be completed until around the second quarter of 2002".

Another letter written in the department on the same date says: "Present indications are that the inquiry may be completed in the second quarter of 2002." Copies of the letters were released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Persons who are to be named in the report have been receiving correspondence since late last year outlining what the inspectors are proposing to say about them, and giving them 21 days to respond.

Mr Barry Benjamin, a Cayman Islands businessman who now operates the Cayman Island trust company, Hamilton Ross Co Ltd, received documentation in December.

He said the documentation stated the company had operated in the Republic without authorisation, and assisted tax evasion. It included testimony of persons who had been involved in operating the Ansbacher deposits. Hamilton Ross was run by the late Mr John Furze, a Cayman Islands banker who operated the Ansbacher deposits along with late Irish accountant Mr Des Traynor. Accounts belonging to Mr Charles Haughey were operated by Hamilton Ross, which itself formed part of the Ansbacher deposits.

Mr Benjamin said he took over the company's affairs following the death of Mr Furze in 1997, and after the discovery of the deposits.

Mr Benjamin said he has passed the documentation received from the inspectors on to his legal advisers. He said he would like to be assured that he would not be held personally liable for any wrongdoing. "I had nothing to do with any of this. I don't know anything about it and neither does Mrs Furze.

"I thought I was going to call over there \ on a visit but I think I'll hang back a bit now, until things blow over," Mr Benjamin said. The Ansbacher inspectors were involved in a court case in the Cayman Islands. They also engaged solicitors in Guernsey. One firm of Guernsey solicitors was dealing with the inspectors' inquiries in the Channel Islands until a potential conflict of interest emerged and a new firm had to be found.

The original inspectors were Mr Noreen Mackay BL, Mr Paul Rowan and Mr Justice Declan Costello. Mr Justice Costello resigned in December 2000 and was replaced by Judge Sean O'Leary and Mr Michael Cush SC. Judge O'Leary returned to the Circuit Court in December but is still assisting the inquiry on a part-time basis.