Colm Keena profiles some more prominent figures named in the report
Padraig Collery is a banking software expert who began work in G&M in 1974. He was responsible for computer operations and in time was taken into Traynor's confidence in relation to the Ansbacher deposits. Collery began to keep the "memorandum accounts" which recorded who owned what within the deposits. These accounts used codes. When Traynor left G&M Collery continued to take instructions from him in relation to the deposits. Collery left G&M in 1989, around the same time Traynor was moving the deposits from G&M to IIB Bank. The memorandum accounts were moved from the G&M computer system to a computer kept in Traynor's CRH offices. Collery would let himself into the CRH offices on Saturday mornings and make entries to the memorandum accounts, using the documentation generated during the week by Traynor and his secretary, Williams. When Traynor died in 1994, Collery helped move the files to the offices of Sam Field Corbett (see below) and continued to maintain the memorandum accounts up to their discovery in 1997 by the McCracken (Dunnes Payments) Tribunal.
Sam Field Corbett, who was born in 1941 is a former Haughey Boland employee. Field Corbett specialised in secretarial services such as establishing companies, presenting documents to the Companies Office and keeping shareholdings on behalf of unidentified clients. At Traynor's suggestion Field Corbett left Haughey Boland in the 1970s and set up his own secretarial services company, Management Investment Services Ltd (MIS). Traynor said he would send a lot of clients his way and was good to his word. Many of the companies which are linked to the Ansbacher deposits had secretarial services supplied by MIS. After Traynor died in 1994 Field Corbett gave Padraig Collery some space in the MIS offices on Winetavern Street, Dublin, to store the Ansbacher files. He also gave Collery access to his offices so Collery could maintain the memorandum accounts.
Joan Williams worked as Des Traynor's secretary in G&M bank and helped him run the Ansbacher deposits operation. When Traynor left G&M he operated for a time from offices on Trinity Street, Dublin. Williams moved with him. When Traynor moved to the CRH headquarters on Fitzwilliams Square, Williams again moved with him and again continued to help run the Ansbacher deposits. A note written by Williams on a piece of paper in the Ansbacher files, "by hand to CJH", helped the McCracken Tribunal prove that Haughey had an account in the coded deposits.During her evidence to the Moriarty Tribunal a former personal secretary of Charles Haughey said she would often line up calls from Haughey's offices in Leinster House, to Williams.
Jack Stakelum, who was born in 1934, is another former Haughey Boland accountant who became something of a public figure as a result of the McCracken Tribunal. Mr Stakelum ran a bill-paying service for Mr Charles Haughey from 1991 up to the 1997, when he featured at the tribunal. He ran a company called Business Enterprises Ltd, which he established when he left Haughey Boland in 1975. As part of this business he placed funds offshore for clients through his friend and former colleague in Haughey Boland, Des Traynor, he told the Moriarty Tribunal. Around 1990 he transferred these offshore funds to AIB offshore.
Jim Culliton, who was born in 1933, is a former chief executive of CRH where he served on the board alongside Des Traynor and Michael Dargan. He wrote an appreciation of Traynor for The Irish Times in 1994 in which he said: "Des was the person you went to if you were in trouble, and he took great pride in helping you resolve your difficulties."
Culliton was another blue chip business figure. He is a former chairman of AIB and of the RTE Authority. In 1999, in the wake of being named as an Ansbacher account holder, he resigned as non-executive chairman of the Hibernian insurance group and of Nortel. He also resigned from the Jury-Doyle hotel group.
Tony Barry left the position of chief executive and took over as chairman of Cement Roadstone in 1994 following the death of Des Traynor. Barry told the Moriarty Tribunal in February 2000 that he never knew Traynor was operating a secret bank from the CRH chairman's office on Fitzwilliam Square, and that if it did happen then he deplored it. In a media statement in 1999 he said that during the period 1989 to 1995 he transferred money to an offshore trust account for the benefit of his children. The money used was fully disclosed after-tax income, he said. Barry is currently chairman of the food company, Greencore and a member of the court of the Bank of Ireland.
Hugh Coveney, who died in 1998, was one of the Cork "merchant princes" who did many deals together over the years including ones where they used G&M. Coveney was a Fine Gael TD, minister and Lord Mayor of Cork. He formed part of the consortium which bought a trailer park in Arizona in the 1980s using a Cayman trust . When he sold his yacht, Golden Apple of the Sun, in the 1970s he eventually placed the proceeds, $125,000, in an Ansbacher account. The account was closed in 1979. Coveney died when he fell from a cliff while out on a walk on March 14th, 1998, seemingly while trying to rescue his dog. A letter to him from the Ansbacher inspectors arrived the following Monday.
Clayton Love jnr, who was born in 1929, is another of the Cork merchant princes. He was a director of G&M and chairman of Cork Communications and Beamish and Crawford. He is a former President of the Irish Yachting Association. G&M backed many of the property deals he was involved in along with Hugh Coveney, Pat Dineen and others.
Denis Foley, who was born in 1940, is a former rent collected who became a Fianna Fail TD. He is from Tralee where developer John Byrne owns the Mount Brandon Hotel. The hotel has a large dance hall and Foley organised showbands and managed dances. A lot of his pay was off the books and Foley would use the money to buy bank drafts, which he then kept in a dresser at home. He later went into business with Byrne and Thomas and William Clifford in relation to a dance hall in the Central Hotel, Ballybunion, Co Kerry, owned by Central Tourist Holdings Ltd.
Foley's Ansbacher account was opened after Traynor, who was down in Tralee looking after business in the Mount Brandon, asked Foley if he had money to invest. Foley told the Moriarty Tribunal that in 1993 he collected £10,000 in cash from Traynor in the CRH offices on Fitzwilliam Square. On another occasion, after Traynor's death, Foley collected £50,000 in cash from Collery after the two men met in the bar in Jury's Hotel, Ballsbridge. When he gave evidence to the Moriarty Tribunal Foley said he was having difficulty getting any information from the Cayman Islands about his account.
Liam McGonagle, who was born in 1929, was a solicitor, business associate of Mr Ken O'Reilly-Hyland and Mr John Finnegan, a strong supporter of Fianna Fail and a close associate of Charles Haughey. He was a member of the committee which ran Taca. He was also, again as were a number of leading figures associated with Ansbacher, a member of Howth Yacht Club. He sailed with Mr Haughey on occasion and spotted Celtic Mist, the yacht bought by the Haugheys in the 1980s. The funding for the yacht was one of the issues never resolved by the Moriarty Tribunal.
Mr McGonagle was an award-winning law student. Upon graduation he joined the family law firm, Kennedy McGonagle.
He lectured on company law to students at the Institute of Chartered Accountants. Marlborough Holdings, a company he owned along with Mr O'Reilly-Hyland, built Telephone House on Marlborough Street in 1968. Mr McGonagle died in 1999, two years after the discovery of the Ansbacher deposits and only one month after he'd retired as a solicitor.
Sam Stephenson, who was born in 1933, is a well known architect who was particularly well known in the 1970s. He designed the Central Bank's building on Dame Street, the ESB headquarters on Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin, and the original two Dublin Corporation "bunkers" which were built on Wood Quay. He was a friend and associate of many of the central figures associated with the Ansbacher deposits, including Charles Haughey. He designed the extension of Des Traynor's home on Howth Road, which was recently sold by his wife, and was involved in property development consortia with Traynor. In 1999 he told The Irish Times that he had severed any financial connection with Des Traynor in 1974 "after a whole lot of money went missing". He also said he had put his tax affairs in order "years ago".
Gerald Hickey, a solicitor, who was born in 1927,was president of the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland for the year 1978/1979. He was chairman of the firm Hickey, Beauchamp, Kirwan and O'Reilly, Dublin, in its time one of the largest law practices in Ireland. He was chairman Industrial Credit Co, Solus Teoranta, and Triplex Ireland Ltd. He was also a director of New Ireland Assurance and CRH, boards on which Des Traynor also sat. He sat on the boards of a host of other companies. He was a property speculator and a staunch supporter of Fianna Fail. He was a member of the Fianna Fail fund raising committee appointed in the wake of the Taca era which operated from rooms in the Doyle group hotel, the Burlington.
P. V. Doyle, who was born in 1925, was the most successful Irish hotelier of his generation. He was educated in the CBS, Westland Row, Dublin, but left school early and went into business. He built a number of Dublin hotels: the Montrose; Skylon; the Tara Tower; the Green Isle; the Burlington; the Berkerley Court; and finally the Westbury, just off Grafton Street. He was chairman of Bord Failte in the 1970s and was on the boards of a number of Catholic and charitable organisations. As well as the hotels in Dublin his group also had hotels in London and New York. During the 1980s, when Haughey was in opposition, Doyle gave him financial backing of approximately £200,000 and possible more. The files are incomplete.
David Doyle, son of PV Doyle, gave some of the most interesting evidence heard by the Moriarty Tribunal concerning the Ansbacher deposits. He said Traynor lunched most days of the week in the Berkerly Court or Jurys, sharing a table with business acquaintances. Trayor's practice was to arrive early and wait in the lobby for whoever he was dining with. Doyle, whenever he wanted to make a deposit to his Ansbacher account, would walk up to Traynor and give him an envelope containing cash or drafts or both. One such deposit in January 1987 involved £27,000 in drafts and £2,000 in cash. Traynor would then lunch with whoever he was meeting, and upon his return to his CRH offices have his secretary, Joan Williams, arrange for the money to be lodged in the bank.
Doyle said he once rang Traynor and said he wanted to make a withdrawal. A few days later he met Traynor in the lobby of a hotel and was handed a draft. When it was put to him that this was all very unusual, Doyle said it hadn't seemed unusual at the time.
Joe Malone, who was born in 1930. another former member of Taca and a key link to the world of business for Charles Haughey and Fianna Fail. He was a member of the fund-raising committee which replaced Taca and which operated from the Burlington. He was appointed chairman of the group following Haughey's election as president of Fianna Fail and his, Haughey's winning of a battle which ensued between Haughey and Des Hanafin, the secretary to the committee who was resisting demands from Haughey concerning information on fund raising in the possession of the committee.
A native of Breaffy, Co Mayo, Malone set up a car hire company, Joe Malone Self-Drive Cars, in 1958 and ran it for a few years before selling it to an English firm. He was appointed director general of Bord Failte in April 1976, having been its chief executive for North America for the previous nine years. In 1982 he was appointed executive vice president of the Smurfit group and in 1983 he left to join the board of General Automotive Corporation (GAC), a US company which built buses in Co Limerick for CIE. US businessman Cruse Moss, chairman of GAC, invested £5,987 in Celtic Helicopters in 1985, at the suggestion of Malone.
Malone sat on the board of Aer Lingus for a number of years, having been appointed by a Haughey government.
Michael Dargan, born in 1918 was a long time associate of Des Traynors on the board of Cement Roadstone (CRH). Dargan served as chairman of CRH up to 1987, when Traynor replaced him. The two men also served together on the board of Aer Lingus. Dargan was chief executive of Aer Lingus from 1969 to 1974 and was on the Aer Lingus board up to 1986. He was chairman of Aer Lingus at the time Celtic Helicopters was established. He was on a number of other boards, including Fitzwilton, and was a governor of the Bank of Ireland. He began his career as a civil servant and was private secretary to the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs before leaving to join Aer Lingus.
He told the inspectors his memory was unreliable. He said he had not recollection of having any funds with Ansbacher.
John Guinness, who was born in 1935, was a descendent of one of the original founders of Guinness & Mahon bank, Robert Rundell Guinness. He was chairman of the bank at the time Mr Des Traynor was asked to join the board and it was he and Mr Traynor who together established Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust in 1972.
He lived in Howth where he was a senior and experienced member of the yacht club. His wife, Jennifer Guinness, came to national prominence when she was kidnapped in 1986. She later became chairwoman of the Victims Support group. Three years after the kidnapping Mr Guinness slipped and fell to his death while walking with his wife and friends on Mount Snowdon in Wales. His wife was told by Traynor that a trust in the Cayman Islands held funds for her and her children.
She drew money from the trust by contacting Traynor, sometimes having the money sent to an English bank account, at other occasions collecting travellers cheques from Traynor.
James McCarthy, who was born in 1924, is a close friend and associate of Sir Anthony O'Reilly. They both played rugby for Ireland together and Mr McCarthy was best man to Sir Anthony O'Reilly at both his weddings. The two men sit on the board of Independent News & Media and Fitzwilton Ltd. Mr McCarthy is one of those named in the Ansbacher report who did not have deposits with the Cayman bank. He used loans from the bank to buy shares in Atlantic Resources and Fitzwilton, companies of which he was a director.
Vincent Ferguson, who was born in 1931, is a director of Independent News & Media and a former chief executive of Fitzwilton, deputy chairman of Atlantic Resources, chairman of Dublin Gas and director of the Central Bank. He was a chairman of Fine Gael's capital branch, a group charged with raising money for general elections. He is a noted art collector who bought Hendriks Art Gallery in 1984. His involvement with Ansbacher did not involve the placing of any funds with the bank. He obtained loans from Traynor which were not backed by any deposits.
Harry Murray, who was born in 1912, was the founder of Murrays Rent-a-Car, Murrays Europcar and Esmonde Garages. He died in January 1995.He was a client of Ansbacher by way of the Channel Islands company, College Trustees. His son, Harold T Murray, told the inspectors that up to 1994 the trust was used to back loans to the car hire group. The offshore funds were declared during the 1993 tax amnesty.
Bob Willis is generally credited with establishing Irish Life as the dominant Irish life assurance company. He sat on the company's board for 21 years and was chief executive for 17 years. He was also a member of the board of CRH from its formation in 1970 and served as chairman during the 1970s. He also sat on the boards of Church & General, General Insurance Co Ltd, Guinness Ireland Ltd and Banque Nationale de Paris (Ireland) Ltd. He was a member of a three-person committee, chaired by Mr David Kennedy, which examined the VHI in the early 1990s.
Richard F Wood, who was born in 1945, is another former directorof CRH. He is a farmer and a former member of the Irish Times Trust. He was chairman of the Cork company, John A Wood & Company, which was bought by CRH.'