In the years leading up to 1990, when National Irish Bank agreed to write off the debts of Mr John Ellis TD, the bank was busy building a niche for itself in the Irish market following its take-over by the National Australia Group.
But the period also coincides with some of the more dubious practices in the bank which have recently come to light.
Among them was the practice of loading fees and interest on to the accounts of unsuspecting customers.
While Mr Ellis was negotiating his debt write-off with his local NIB branch in Ballinamore, Co Leitrim, NIB customers elsewhere were being overcharged.
Among the five branches found guilty of the practice was Carrick-on-Shannon, also in Leitrim.
In May 1990, the bank's then chief executive, Mr Jim Lacey, wrote to Carrick-on-Shannon expressing concern about the imposition of increased interest charges, and saying the practice must cease immediately.
Following inquiries last year, including one by Arthur Andersen, NIB agreed to return £131,166 plus interest to 370 customers.
The aggressive, customer-oriented National Australia Bank had taken over Midland Bank's operations in the Republic in 1987. Within months, it had renamed the bank National Irish Bank and appointed Mr Lacey to head the new operation.
Mr Lacey, who has long-standing connections with Fianna Fail and is a friend of the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, lost no time boosting the profile of the new arrival on the Irish banking scene.
Quick off the mark with interest rate cuts, he ran an aggressive marketing campaign and became far better known than his counterparts at the much larger banks, even being dubbed "the Feargal Quinn of Irish banking".
But he is perhaps best known for the kidnapping ordeal he suffered in November 1993 when his family were held hostage by a criminal gang while he was forced to withdraw and hand over £243,000 from the bank's vaults.
Fewer than six months after the kidnapping, Mr Lacey was dismissed from his position as chief executive of NIB in circumstances which have never been fully explained. He contested his dismissal and reportedly received a pay-off of about £1 million.
Within months of his dismissal, Mr Lacey was appointed chairman of the Irish Aviation Authority by the then minister for transport, energy and communications, Mr Cowen.
Appointment to the post, which carried an annual salary of £7,500, was one of the last decisions of Mr Albert Reynolds's government before leaving office.
Mr Lacey was also appointed chairman of the Local Government Reorganisation Commission by the then minister for the environment, Mr Smith, in 1994. It reported in 1996 and was subsequently dissolved.
A year later, as Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey appointed him a member of the executive board of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. He also served as chairman of Fianna Fail's business fund-raising committee, Forum 2000, which was set up by Mr Ahern when he took over the leadership of the party in 1995.
Mr Lacey resigned from all these posts last year when the NIB scandal blew up, citing personal reasons. He emphasised, however, that his decision was not to be interpreted as implying any impropriety in his previous role.