PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the State's best-known firms of accountants, vouched for a company at the centre of the Garda investigation into IRA money-laundering, writes John McManus
Mr William Roche, who was a partner in the tax and legal services division of PwC, wrote several letters in support of Chesterton Finance Co, which he described as clients of the firm, between 2001 and 2003. An individual described as the "principal" of Chesterton - who cannot be named for legal reasons - is central to the Garda investigation. The company specialised in lending money secured on assets, usually land.
One of the non-executive directors of Chesterton is Mr Phil Flynn, the trade union official turned business consultant. Mr Flynn, a former vice-president of Sinn Féin, has resigned from a number of business and Government posts after being linked to Chesterton last week. He has denied any role in money-laundering, describing the company as "clean".
In a letter dated October 2001, which has been seen by The Irish Times, Mr Roche - who retired from PwC over a year ago - described Chesterton as a client and described it as having an established investment policy "to lend on security of fixed assets where the value of the security is at least twice the amount of the lending".
In another letter, dated February 2003, Mr Roche described the interest rate being offered to potential investors by Chesterton as "in the present economic climate a very good rate".
He points out that stocks and shares are an uncertain investment in the wake of the "terrorist attack in New York on September 11th, 2001".
A third letter from Mr Roche, dated in May of that year, states that "the rate of interest being paid by the company to the investor is way in excess of the deposit rate obtained from a financial institution".
PricewaterhouseCoopers, whose clients include government departments and a number of blue chip companies, declined to comment last night. A spokeswoman for the firm said that it did not comment on client business.