Yesterday was another bad day for corporate Ireland, with the appearance of representatives of two of the top five firms on the Dublin stock exchange before the tribunal.
The chairman of Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH), Mr Tony Barry, had little to tell about the fact that the Ansbacher deposits were run from the CRH chairman's office from 1987 to 1994.
Mr Barry, amazingly, said that "if" this turns out to have been the case, he and his fellow directors would "deplore" this as a most serious breach of trust by the former chairman, the late Mr Des Traynor. He said he and his fellow directors knew nothing at the time about the financial operation being run by Mr Traynor from the offices on Fitzwilliam Square.
Mr Barry, who took over as chairman of CRH following Mr Traynor's death in May 1994 and is to retire shortly, was not asked about his own links to the deposits. Nor was he asked about how more than half of the board of CRH had links to the accounts in 1989, according to authorised officer Mr Gerry Ryan.
Mr Barry was not questioned as to how he came to have dealings with the offshore bank, which he knew Mr Traynor was chairman of, or whether any of these dealings involved Mr Traynor, or took place in the CRH offices.
Last September Mr Barry said in a statement to the media: "Over the period 1989 to 1995 I transferred funds to an offshore trust account for the ultimate benefit of two of my adult children, both of whom were resident and working abroad during this period. The source of these funds was fully disclosed, after-tax income. I now understand that the accounts used were probably either Ansbacher or Hamilton Ross."
It remains to be seen whether any of the CRH directors from the late 1980s who have been linked to the accounts will be called to give evidence.
It is now clear that the tribunal chairman, Mr Justice Moriarty, believes he may inquire into CRH. When he was appointed Mr Justice Moriarty felt he was precluded from investigating the company, as he owned CRH shares.
The Attorney General has since given his view, through counsel for the public interest, Mr Frank Clarke SC, that the chairman is free to inquire into the company if he believes it falls within the tribunal's terms of reference. The chairman has sold his CRH shares.
It emerged yesterday that the late Mr Traynor placed large deposits linked to the Ansbacher accounts with Bank of Ireland in the early 1990s. The funds were placed in the names of Cayman registered companies and, therefore, in non-resident accounts. The bank suspected the owners were Irish residents, and this was later confirmed to the bank, though it seems the matter was not reported to the Revenue.
A spokesman for the bank last night said there was "no reason" at the time for the bank to suspect that anything wrong had occurred: Mr Traynor was then a highly reputable businessman and the bank had no reason to be suspicious.
The dealings with the Bank of Ireland occurred by way of BoI Personal Banking, a branch on Fitzwilliam Square, a short walk from the CRH chairman's office, which deals exclusively with the personal affairs of high net worth clients.
Funds were placed with the bank in the names of a number of Cayman companies, although Mr Andy Brennan, of Bank of Ireland Personal Banking, suspected the true beneficiaries of the funds were Irish residents. He dealt with Mr Traynor in relation to the accounts. One of the companies involved, Poinciana Fund, held money for Mr Charles Haughey.
Funds worth millions of pounds in the names Penta Investments, Tar Securities Ltd, and Poinciana Fund Ltd, were in turn placed with Investment Bank of Ireland Managers Ltd, in the Isle of Man. Because this company was registered in the Cayman Islands, funds belonging to residents of that jurisdiction could not be placed with it.
Mr Brennan wrote to the Isle of Man in September 1993 confirming that "to the best of our knowledge and belief, the beneficial owners of the . . . companies are not resident in the Cayman Islands".
The Tara and Penta money was later withdrawn because the beneficial owners were availing of the 1993 tax amnesty, under which only 15 per cent tax had to be paid on previously undeclared income.
In a note in December to the Isle of Man Mr Brennan wrote: "Whilst we suspected that the beneficial owners were Irish residents this was never divulged until announcement of the recent amnesty." He also wrote that "our contact has indicated that the entire funds will be again made available to us after acceptance/clearance with the Irish Revenue authoritites". The contact was Mr Traynor.
During the McCracken tribunal Mr Noel Smyth, solicitor to Mr Haughey, said he had been told by the former Taoiseach that he had not availed of the amnesty.