JOHN FURZE is 54 years old and has lived in the Cayman Island for almost 30 years.
He helped Mr Des Traynor, the late Irish businessman, to set up the Guinness & Mahon merchant bank operation there in 1971 and visited Ireland last year to represent Ansbacher - which had bought the bank in 1988 - at Mr Traynor's funeral.
In an affidavit drawn up as part of a legal battle settled in 1994, Mr Ben Dunne said he had paid £1.1 million into several London bank accounts.
He is understood to have alleged that most of the money was paid into accounts named "John Furze".
Mr Furze's name is not thought to have appeared in the Price Waterhouse report.
This is because Price Waterhouse examined payments made directly out of Dunnes Stores.
It is thought Mr Dunne's affidavit refers to money paid into the London bank from an overseas account.
Mr Furze, with grey hair and well-worn features, is adamant that he does not know Mr Dunne and has never had any dealings with him.
He expressed surprise and some anger at reports that his name was mentioned In the affidavit.
He also says his knowledge of Ireland and of Irish politics is limited. "I only realised two years ago that the word Taoiseach means prime minister," he said.
He thought it unlikely that an account would be opened in his name without his knowledge but conceded that it would not be impossible.
He said he once had a case where a rubber stamp facsimile of his signature was used on a document in the US and he had to consult the FBI on the matter. He added that he would be contacting the Cayman Islands' Financial Services Supervision Department to inform it that his name had been linked to the Dunnes payments in media reports.
He said he would provide the department with a sworn affidavit on the matter, if required. But he said the department was unlikely to seek to question him about it.
Mr Furze retired from Ansbacher last year. He now runs a low-key small insurance company called International Insurance Management Corporation situated close to the capital Georgetown.
He is a well-known name on the island, living in an affluent suburb called Governor's Harbour outside Georgetown. He is also a familiar name in the financial business in the region.
He worked with Barclays and Bank of Nova Scotia, before becoming involved in the establishment of Guinness & Mahon.
In 1971 Mr Traynor approached him and asked whether he would be able to establish a Guinness & Mahon operation on the Cayman Islands.
It was originally established at the Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Company, where Mr Furze had worked since 1967.
This was a common way to establish a new operation in the Islands. Guinness & Mahon later grew to be a sizeable operation and Mr Traynor stayed on as a director after Ansbacher took over, remaining on the board until he died.
For most of his life he worked in banking, rather than insurance.
Financial services are big business in the Cayman Islands - 46 of the world's leading banks are represented here - and confidentiality is one of its selling points.
Mr Furze answered questions openly yesterday but emphasised that he was limited in what he could say by the strict laws on confidentiality.
He said that while he had heard of Ben Dunne, however, he had never met him and would not recognise him. He was adamant that he had never dealt with accounts n behalf of Mr Dunne.