An insight into how the late Mr Des Traynor operated his secretive Ansbacher deposit accounts emerged during the evidence yesterday of Mr David Doyle, son of the late Mr P.V.Doyle.
It seems that Mr David Doyle had funds deposited in the Ansbacher accounts though he himself did not know the details of how the system operated. He had the account for most of the 1980s and possibly into the early 1990s, and he only once made a withdrawal.
Mr Traynor, he said, was in the habit of dining in the Berkeley Court and Burlington Hotels, both of which are part of the Doyle Hotel group. Usually he would arrive early and would wait at the hotel door for his dining companion. He also attended many business meetings and board meetings in the hotel connected with companies with which he was involved.
Mr Doyle would go up to the banker and hand over a draft, or drafts, or possibly even drafts and cash. One such "deposit", which on the evidence it seems took place in January 1987, was for £27,000 and possibly £29,000. Mr Doyle handed over five drafts made out to various names, none of them his, for a total of £27,000. He may also have handed over £2,000 in cash.
Mr Traynor then, presumably, had his lunch or business meeting with the money in his pocket or in his briefcase, depositing it in Guinness & Mahon (G&M) bank.
Mr Traynor was joint chairman and de facto chief executive of the bank until 1986, when he resigned and severed his official links with the bank. He moved to the offices of Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH) in Fitzwilliam Square, having taken up the position of chairman of that company.
Mr Jerry Healy SC, for the tribunal, put it to Mr Doyle that it was unusual for a customer of a bank to be making deposits by handing over the funds in a hotel lobby. Such a practice did not occur "anywhere in the world", he said. Mr Doyle did not have much by way of comment on that point.
Mr Doyle did not get receipts for his deposits, but received statements addressed to him at home every three to four months. Around the time Mr Traynor left G&M, Mr Doyle's deposits were switched into another currency. It seems Mr Doyle was offered a choice of currencies, and opted for US dollars.
Sometimes Mr Doyle would conduct his transactions with Ms Joan Williams, Mr Traynor's trusted secretary who followed him from G&M to CRH. He might make contact by telephone or send drafts by post. He only once made a withdrawal, as far as he could remember. He contacted Mr Traynor who later handed over the draft when he was at one of the Doyle hotels.
Mr Doyle closed the account in the early 1990s. He was concerned about what would happen in relation to his "substantial" deposit in the event of Mr Traynor dying. That event occurred in 1994.
The most important attribute of the Ansbacher deposits was their secretiveness. Unlike other financial services, this one was not advertised. So the depositors were presumably people who, like Mr Doyle and Mr Charles Haughey, knew Mr Traynor intimately because of business or personal connections.
Mr Traynor, when conducting business in one of the Doyle hotels, probably received deposits from some of those with whom he was dining or conducting business. He would then arrange to have the drafts and cash deposited in G&M bank, in an account under the name of Ansbacher (Cayman).
Back in his CRH offices he or Mr Padraig Collery, another former G&M banker, would fill in the "memorandum accounts" which detailed who owned what in the general Ansbacher account. Codes were used and who was linked to which code was a well-guarded secret. The depositors came from the highest levels of the Irish business world.
The system remained in existence after Mr Traynor's death. By then the Ansbacher deposits had been moved to Irish Intercontinental Bank. Then, in 1996, the legal team working for the Moriarty tribunal discovered the secretive accounts. The word got out and the account-holders quickly moved their funds elsewhere.
Mr Gerard Ryan, an authorised officer appointed by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, is currently conducting an inquiry into the whole affair. The depositors must be worried.