Ellis sought £1.1m from Ansbacher-linked firm

The troubled meat company run by Fianna Fail TD Mr John Ellis tried to raise £1.1 million from a British firm with links to Henry Ansbacher & Co, the London institution which bought the Cayman bank behind the Ansbacher deposits.

Farmers owed money by Stanlow Trading, the company run by Mr Ellis and two of his brothers, were given copies of a letter in 1987 which purported to show how finance was being raised in London by a company called First Financial Services. The address on the letter was 1 Mitre Square, the address of Henry Ansbacher & Co, the bank which now owns Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd. The phone number on the letter is of the London bank.

The exact connection between First Financial Services and Henry Ansbacher could not be established last night. Copies of the letter were handed out to about 50 farmers who attended a meeting in early 1987 in Boyle, Co Roscommon, attended by Mr Richard Ellis, brother of Mr John Ellis.

The letter, headed First Financial Services, 1 Mitre Square, London, is dated February 4th, 1987. It is addressed to Mr Richard Ellis, of Stanlow Trading, Fenagh, Ballinmore, Co Leitrim, the Ellis meat company of which he was the accountant.

The letter reads: "Further to Peter Griffin's letter dated 20th November, I am writing to advise on the up to date position. We hope to be in a position to finalise all the required facilities within the next five days and you will be required to attend the offices of the London banks to obtain the required facility letters. Total facility should exceed £1.1 million. Probably you will be (unclear word) at short notice. Yours sincerely, (unclear), customer service officer."

At the time the letter was written, Henry Ansbacher did not own the Cayman bank. Guinness Mahon bank, London, sold the Cayman bank to the Cayman management in 1988. The late Mr Des Traynor was among the management figures involved in the deal. He and his colleagues then sold the bank again in 1988 to Henry Ansbacher Holdings, for £3 million in cash and shares. The name of the Cayman bank was changed from Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust to Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd.

It emerged in the Moriarty tribunal that Mr Charles Haughey was concerned about the possibility of Mr Ellis being declared bankrupt and losing his seat.

Mr Paddy Joe McNamara, who has a farm near Crossmolina, Co Mayo and who is owed £1,654 by Stanlow Trading, has a copy of the 1987 letter which he was given at the Boyle meeting.

"I thought at the time it was genuine, maybe it was. We waited, hoping it would work out and we would be paid, but that never happened." There was a general election pending at the time of the meeting. "Once John Ellis got in as a TD, that's the last we saw of him."

Mr McNamara was on a four-member committee which represented farmers owed money by the Ellis company. He has no memory of any bank by the name Henry Ansbacher being mentioned in relation to the raising of money by Mr Ellis.

Mr Ellis could not be contacted yesterday. It was reported in 1987 that First Financial Services subsequently wrote to Mr Ellis and informed him that, although it had approached up to 20 banks, it had been unable to raise the finance being sought.

A source who worked with Mr Ellis at the time of the collapse of Stanlow Trading said he remembered a London financial firm saying it would be able to organise finance for the meat company. "I was entirely sceptical and cynical at the time, right from the word go. John Ellis had faith in them but I had none."