Haughey has no access to £500,000

Just under £500,000 belonging to the former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, has been frozen in the Ansbacher deposits since the…

Just under £500,000 belonging to the former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, has been frozen in the Ansbacher deposits since the accounts were discovered in 1997, the tribunal heard.

Mr Haughey told the Revenue Commissioners in 1998 he has no knowledge of any gifts he might have received prior to 1979, the year in which the tribunal's terms of reference begin.

A letter and a memorandum sent by Mr Haughey's advisers to the Revenue in 1998 were read out yesterday during the reading of evidence taken on commission earlier this year from Mr Haughey.

Tax adviser Mr Paul Moore said of funds belonging to Mr Haughey which remain in IIB Bank: "It is clear that the client (Mr Haughey) would not be in a position to compel their release to him, regardless of the fact that the question of potential exposure to DIRT has forced the bank to withhold them."

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Mr Moore also wrote that Mr Haughey "has no knowledge of the gifts or inheritances which pre-date the (1979) AIB Bank settlement.

"It appears that the transactions entered into by him in the late 1960s and which were a matter of intense public interest at the time, would have been completely documented and investigated by you in the process of agreeing the taxation implications, if any, of the transactions."

A memorandum, prepared by Peelo & Partners, states that Mr Haughey's Ansbacher accounts in IIB Bank in September 1992 had a balance of £1.274 million. Interest during the period to April 1997 was £253,000.

Over the period deposits totalling £507,000 were made, with sources of the money including Mr Ben Dunne, Mr Dermot Desmond, and an investment account with NCB Stockbrokers. The opening balance and additions, when foreign exchange differences are taken into account, come to £2.116 million. During the period Sept 1991 to March 1997, total expenditures through Mr Haughey's bill-paying service were £1.4376 million. The balance in Mr Haughey's accounts at IIB on August 31st, 1997, were £490,000.

The memorandum states that Mr Padraig Collery, who ran the Ansbacher deposits along with Mr Des Traynor, had records for Mr Haughey's accounts from September 1992 but not for before that. "It is understood that such records may be in the Cayman Islands."