McCreevy lists missing files sought by Moriarty tribunal

The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, has published a list of the missing or incomplete files on exchange controls which are being sought by the Moriarty tribunal. The list was published "in order to allay public concerns", Mr McCreevy said.

From their titles it would seem few, if any, of the files are relevant to the Ansbacher deposits. However, one of the incomplete files is from 1983 and concerns "non-resident deposits with banks in Ireland". The file is understood to concern persons or companies resident abroad who had money deposited with Irish banks.

The Ansbacher deposits were in existence in 1983. It is known that Irish residents lodged monies in the deposits. The funds were lodged with Ansbacher (Cayman), in the Cayman Islands, which in turned lodged them under its own name in a Dublin bank, Guinness & Mahon.

The Moriarty Tribunal is inquiring into the finances of the former Taoiseach, Mr Haughey, and the former Fine Gael minister, Mr Michael Lowry. It is investigating links between Mr Haughey and the Ansbacher deposits, and the effect of offshore accounts on the tax base.

Another of the missing files has the title "Forward purchase of foreign currencies individual applications", and is from 1965. The Ansbacher deposits were not set up until the early 1970s. The file may relate to individual applications from persons and/or companies, or to policy concerning such applications.

The department pointed out that a 1954 file which has gone missing, Exchange Control - Ansbacher and Co Ltd, Merrion Square, has nothing to do with the Ansbacher deposits or the Henry Ansbacher group, which owns the Cayman Islands bank which controlled the deposits.

Only three of the missing files are from Mr Haughey's period as Minister for Finance. They are: Material on exchange control for inclusion in miscellaneous publications (1966); OECD code on liberalisation of capital movements (1966); and an untitled file (1969). Mr Haughey was Minister for Finance from 1966 to 1970.

The list was published following consultation between the department and its legal advisers, and after permission had been received from the Moriarty tribunal. Mr McCreevy said 713 files, 24 folders and 34 individual documents were identified following the receipt of an order of production from the tribunal in January.

Of these, 130 files have not been found and 12 have been found to be incomplete. The order from the tribunal relates to documents pertaining to the operation of exchange controls in the years 1954 to 1993 inclusive. A similar order has been served on the Central Bank. The files relate mainly to policy issues or to the affairs of named companies or individuals.

Since Thursday last the department has located three files and established that five files were amalgamated into other files. It has also established that one file reference was duplicated. This means that 130 files are now missing.

Mr McCreevy emphasised that in releasing the list of files that cannot be located, he was not inferring or indicating any wrongdoing in respect of the individuals or companies mentioned in the titles of some of the files. Only eight of the missing files and six of the files of which parts are missing, are from 1971 onwards.