Operational details of Ansbacher accounts are now being uncovered slowly but surely

Slowly but surely, more and more details of the Ansbacher accounts are being supplied to the Moriarty tribunal team and now most…

Slowly but surely, more and more details of the Ansbacher accounts are being supplied to the Moriarty tribunal team and now most likely to the officer appointed by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney.

The office of the Revenue Commissioners is also investigating aspects of the accounts. Now the questions are how full a picture of the operation of the accounts this information will provide and whether the results will find their way into the public domain.

It comes as little surprise that the Moriarty tribunal - established to investigate the finances of Mr Charles Haughey and Mr Michael Lowry - has been seeking details of the Ansbacher accounts.

In doing so, it is following the ground of the previous McCracken tribunal which uncovered the accounts in its examination of the former Taoiseach's finances.

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The two banks which held the Ansbacher accounts - Guinness & Mahon and Irish Intercontinental Bank - are both thought to be preparing to hand over details to the Moriarty tribunal.

Now an authorised officer appointed by Ms Harney is also seeking details of the accounts. His request was prompted by an investigation by the officer, Mr Gerard Ryan, into the affairs of Celtic Helicopters.

But while part of the information he is seeking relates to the possible benefit Celtic Helicopters received from the Ansbacher accounts, the officer is also, crucially, seeking general details of the accounts to examine possible breaches of company law, tax law and exchange control rules.

It is understood that Guinness & Mahon, now owned by the Irish Permanent, supplied some details to the officer late yesterday.

IIB obtained an injunction last weekend against the demand from the officer who had sought information from the bank at short notice. Counsel for the bank told the High Court yesterday that it would happily hand over the information provided it was satisfied that the Minister had the right to ask for it.

With the case adjourned for a week yesterday, it is now thought likely that IIB will have time to satisfy itself of the Minister's authority. The bank has already supplied information to Mr Ryan on Celtic Helicopters and to the McCracken tribunal and is to forward extensive details to the Moriarty tribunal next week.

IIB's caution is understandable. The McCracken tribunal report found that Mr Des Traynor, executive deputy chairman of Guinness & Mahon (G&M) and Mr Padraig Collery, an officer of the bank, were the two central figures in running the Ansbacher accounts.

However, while G&M figures knew the details of the deposits, IIB merely dealt with the Ansbacher accounts as a normal client account and was, in fact, commended by counsel for the McCracken tribunal for its management of them.

IIB would thus want to be sure that it is not leaving itself open to any further action by handing the information over to someone not authorised to seek it.

It is not clear the extent to which information from the two Irish banks will allow the authorities to piece together the operation of the Ansbacher accounts and their beneficiaries.

The McCracken report said that details of the beneficiaries were not known generally to the two banks, but only to Mr Traynor and later Mr Collery. It is not clear how many of these records still exist in Ireland. However, full details of all the withdrawals, deposits and correspondence relating to the accounts would throw a lot of light on their operation and may point to some of the beneficiaries.

For example, in some cases loans were made to clients backed by the Ansbacher accounts, and the Irish banks would have the names of the borrowers.

The Department's authorised officer would not be empowered to publish the results of his investigation, although he can disclose them in certain court cases and can pass his findings to authorities such as the DPP and the Revenue Commissioners.

It would also be open to the Minister to appoint an inspector who would have High Court powers and could carry the investigation further, interviewing anyone felt to have relevant information and publishing any findings.

In terms of the Moriarty tribunal, its terms of reference restrict it to dealing with matters relating to Mr Haughey or any other politician. However, the Opposition is persisting in seeking to have the terms of the tribunal widened to examine the deposits in full.