Ansbacher inquiry to highlight new company

The investigation into the Ansbacher deposits, it has emerged, has been extended to a Guernsey company that manages large investments for wealthy Irish business people and was linked to the late Mr Des Traynor, financial adviser to the former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey.

The company, College Trustees Ltd, is a former subsidiary of Guinness & Mahon bank, Dublin. It was subsequently bought by Guinness Mahon, London, and is now owned by Credit Suisse Trust Holdings. The Moriarty tribunal was told in February that Mr Traynor gave instructions in relation to College Trustees.

The authorised officer investigating the Ansbacher deposits, Mr Gerard Ryan, was appointed by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, to the Guernsey company about two months ago. Mr Ryan has contacted the company in relation to getting access to certain books and documents. Under section 19 of the Companies Act 1990, an authorised officer can be appointed to foreign-registered companies that have traded in Ireland, though the exact nature of the Guernsey company's activities here is unclear.

As an offshore trust company, College Trustees would manage funds on behalf of the ultimate beneficiaries of the trusts it manages. The trusts it manages would be non-discretionary, meaning the ultimate beneficiaries would have no say over how the funds were invested, according to a financial management source.

College Trustees held the majority shareholding in a British company called Tripleplan, which was paid £282,500 sterling by cheque by Mr Ben Dunne in May 1987. The money eventually went to an account in Guinness & Mahon bank belonging to Mr Haughey.

Mr Sam Field-Corbett of the Dublin secretarial services company, Management Investment Services, told the Moriarty tribunal in February that his company acted for College Trustees in relation to a number of companies, including Tripleplan, and that the instructions always came from Mr Traynor.

The Guernsey company held a significant shareholding in Clayton Love Distribution Ltd, an Irish frozen foods distribution company owned by Mr Haughey's son-in-law, Mr John Mulhern. In October 1993 the shareholding was bought for £1.4 million by a subsidiary of Clayton Love Distribution Ltd, County Fair Foods Ltd. At the time the directors of Clayton Love Distribution Ltd were: Mr Field-Corbett; Mr James Thomas Johnston; Ms Anna Gertrude Love; and Mr John Mulhern.

The frozen foods company's accounts for 1993 state the directors had no interest in the shares held by College Trustees. The ultimate owner or owners of the shareholding is not known. The £1.4 million paid to College Trustees was borrowed from National Irish Bank, according to documents in the Companies Registration Office. No explanation for the move is given in the documentation.

Mr Field Corbett resigned as a director of Clayton Love in July 1996. Ms Love died in 1998. Mr Mulhern, who is the main shareholder in the company, is married to Mr Haughey's daughter, Ms Eimear Mulhern.