Traynor family lose out in transfer

Action taken by the Ansbacher Group may have led the family of the late Des Traynor not getting money destined for it. Colm Keena reports

Part of the so-called "Ansbacher" scheme run by the late Mr Des Traynor began to fall apart in September, 1992, as a result of actions taken by Ansbacher.

Without the customers for whom he acted knowing, these developments led to some of the supposedly offshore money he was managing being transferred to the ownership of a small Cayman company with no reserves, Hamilton Ross Co Ltd.

Ten years later it seems Mr Traynor's family may have lost out as a result. The details on this have not been published before as they are buried in an otherwise technical section of the Ansbacher Inspectors' voluminous report.

A few years after the 1988 purchase of Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust by the Henry Ansbacher group, the group discovered the true nature of what Mr Traynor was up to in Dublin on behalf of the Cayman bank (now called Ansbacher Cayman).

Senior Ansbacher executives were appalled by what they discovered because it was illegal to take deposits without a licence and, perhaps more importantly, because they were afraid someone's money might go missing. There was never any indication that money had gone missing but Mr Traynor was acting in Dublin effectively without any supervision.

Mr Traynor told Ansbacher he would take the business it was worried about off the Ansbacher books. He transferred some of the money held in Dublin in Irish Intercontinental Bank (IIB) in the name of Ansbacher into accounts in the name of Hamilton Ross Co Ltd. One account affected belonged to Mr Charles Haughey.

Hamilton Ross was a Cayman company used by Mr Traynor and his long time Cayman colleague, Mr John Furze.

The Ansbacher inspectors investigated who owned it. They found that on May 5th, 1993, a Cayman trust was established, the Poinciana Trust, with Mr Traynor as the "moving party" and Mr Furze as the trustee. The beneficiaries were Mr Traynor and his wife, in the first instance, and his wider family in the second instance.

The assets held by the trust were four Cayman companies: Poinciana Fund Ltd; Worldwide Management & Consultancy Services Ltd; Dumas Holdings Ltd; and Hamilton Ross Co Ltd. The inspectors decided Mr Traynor owned Hamilton Ross and had placed it in the Poinciana trust.

The trust was similar to ones Mr Traynor and Mr Furze had been setting up for Irish people since the early 1970s. In some cases the beneficiaries of the trust were kept ignorant of its existence and only found out about it when contacted discreetly by Mr Traynor after the person who had established the trust had died.

Mr Traynor died on May 11th, 1994. According to the Ansbacher inspectors' report, some time afterwards Mr Furze, acting as trustee of the Poinciana Trust, disposed of Hamilton Ross without telling the Traynor family. No money was passed to the family.

In the period between the deaths of Mr Traynor and Mr Furze, most of the Hamilton Ross accounts were moved from Dublin to the Cayman Islands. Mr Furze died suddenly in July 1997. It seems the Hamilton Ross accounts and books were not left in good order.

Mr Furze had left Ansbacher and was involved in running some new ventures as well as Hamilton Ross. His partner in the Cayman Islands was Mr Barry Benjamin, a US national who met and spoke with this reporter in 1997, at the time of the funeral of Mr Furze. He said he believed Mr Furze admired Mr Traynor's character and abilities the way he, Mr Benjamin, admired those of Mr Furze. He also said Mr Furze had, in the months prior to his death, been very concerned about the damage being done to Mr Traynor's reputation.

Mr Benjamin told The Irish Times in February, 2000 that Mr Furze, after he'd suffered his heart attack but before he died, told him to take instructions from an unnamed third party in relation to Hamilton Ross. He said the name of this person "will never come out".

Some Irish customers of Hamilton Ross have told the authorities that they have not been able to get information about their affairs from Mr Benjamin. Last night Mr Benjamin said he did not believe anyone had any difficulties now in relation to him and their Hamilton Ross accounts.

Mr Padraig Collery, who helped Mr Traynor run the Ansbacher Deposits in Dublin for almost two decades, travelled to the Cayman Islands in 1998 and brought back documentation concerning peoples balances in Hamilton Ross. He did so because he was concerned that people might have difficulty getting their money and he wanted some protection in case they might sue.

He repatriated the money in his own account. One of the people known to have had difficulty concerning Hamilton Ross is the former Fianna Fail TD, Mr Denis Foley. He would not comment on the matter yesterday.

Mr Benjamin, in a June, 2000, letter to Mr Traynor's son, Mr Tony Traynor, said the Poinciana Trust no longer had an interest in either Hamilton Ross or Dumas Holdings.

"Any previous holdings in the companies were disposed of by John A Furze MBE, my predecessor as trustee," said Mr Benjamin. Substantial fees may have accumulated from the Hamilton Ross operation. In 1996 Mr Collery was paid £55,000 in commissions and fees by Mr Furze for his work in Dublin for Hamilton Ross.

According to the Ansbacher Inspectors' report, the date of disposal of Hamilton Ross by Mr Furze, and the price paid, if any, are unknown. "The Traynor family have assured the inspectors that they do not have this information. If the lack of knowledge of the Traynor family is genuine (a fact not disputed by the inspectors), the secret nature of this transaction is a lesson to those who entrust their wealth to offshore trusts".

However Mr Benjamin said the inspectors have got it wrong and he had nothing which proved that Mr Traynor ever owned Hamilton Ross. He believed the company had belonged to Mr Furze. He said the same was true of Dumas Holdings, a Cayman company he said Mr Furze used for private business dealings some time ago. Asked about the trust document signed by Mr Furze in May 1993 and stating that these two companies belonged to the Poinciana Trust, Mr Benjamin he had no record of the companies belonging to Mr Traynor.

Asked about the inspectors' comment on the transaction being a lesson for people who entrust their wealth to offshore trusts, Mr Benjamin said: "I find the suggestion that Mr Furze might have made off with any of their (the Traynor family's) money laughable." He said the inspectors can "imply whatever they want. I have no desire to argue with them about it." A spokesman for the Traynor family said he had no comment.