Collery `co-operating' as investigator pieces together the Ansbacher jigsaw

The former Guinness & Mahon banker, Mr Padraig Collery, has said he is co-operating fully with the inquiry into the Ansbacher deposits, initiated by the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Ms Mary Harney.

Mr Collery said he is "giving whatever assistance there is to give" to the inquiry, which is being conducted by Mr Gerard Ryan of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

As well as playing a role in maintaining records relating to the Ansbacher deposits, Mr Collery also authorised the release of money from the accounts for the payment of the living expenses of the former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey.

Mr Ryan was appointed an authorised officer earlier this month under the 1990 Companies Act. He was appointed to Guinness & Mahon bank and to Irish Intercontinental Bank (IIB), the two Irish banks which held deposits on behalf of the Cayman Islands bank, Ansbacher Cayman Ltd.

He was also appointed to Ansbacher Cayman Ltd, and may be appointed to Hamilton Ross Ltd, and Poinciana Funds Ltd.

Hamilton Ross and Poinciana Funds are two companies which were controlled by the Cayman banker, the late Mr John Furze. They were referred to by the McCracken tribunal as a subgroup of the Ansbacher deposits and from 1994 they held money belonging to Mr Haughey which had earlier been held in the Ansbacher Cayman accounts.

Mr Collery acted for these companies and maintained coded "memorandum accounts" which recorded clients' holdings within the Ansbacher deposits. Under company law, an authorised officer can be appointed to any company which carries on or has carried on business here. Agents or former agents must comply with requests for documents or interviews.

"I am assisting the inquiry and I will continue to do so," Mr Collery said. He said that given the appointment of Mr Ryan, he thought he should not comment further.

The full extent of the documentation held by Mr Collery is not known. He told the McCracken tribunal that following the death of Mr Des Traynor, Mr Furze had taken files back to the Cayman Islands. Other files had been destroyed. However, the tribunal also heard that Mr Collery, as well as having documents relating to Mr Haughey, still had other Ansbacher documents.

Although the memorandum accounts were coded and Mr Collery took instructions from Mr Traynor up to his death in 1994, an internal Guinness & Mahon audit report in 1989 stated it understood Mr Collery was aware of the account holders names. However, Mr Collery indicated to the tribunal that he did not know all the account holders' names.

With the extensive documentation Mr Ryan has been furnished with by Guinness & Mahon bank and IIB, and the information he is now getting from Mr Collery, the authorised officer is likely to have built a comprehensive picture of the operation of the Ansbacher deposits. He is also likely to have knowledge of at least some of the account holders' names.

Mr Ryan was originally appointed to inquire into Celtic Helicopters Ltd, the company in which Mr Ciaran Haughey has a major shareholding.