The return to power of Mr Charles Haughey in February 1987 seems to have been a busy time for the late Des Traynor, the banker who looked after Mr Haughey's finances and ran the Ansbacher deposits.
In the weeks following Mr Haughey's return to power hundreds of thousands of pounds were lodged to an account at Guinness & Mahon bank controlled by Mr Traynor. As well as 13 lodgements totalling more than £340,000 from as yet unidentified sources, a further £310,000 lodged to the Amiens Securities Ltd account came from companies associated with multi-millionaire property developer Mr John Byrne.
On February 18th, 1987, the day after the election, Mr Byrne wrote a cheque for £50,000. The cheque was on the account of his company, Skellig Investments, at the Bank of Ireland Rotunda branch, Dublin. The money was lodged to the account of Amiens Securities, an account controlled by Mr Traynor and from which money has gone to pay Mr Haughey's expenses.
During February and March, 11 cash lodgements for round-figure amounts were made to the account. The first of these, for £7,800, was before the election, on February 13th, but the following 10 occurred after the election. The largest amount was £22,500 and the smallest £1,000.
There were inter-bank transfers from the Bank of Ireland to the Amiens account. They were for £45,700 on February 24th and £195,000 on February 28th. The source of these funds has not yet been revealed.
On July 23rd, 1987, a payment of £260,000 was made to the Amiens account. Because of the method used, a huge effort was needed by AIB, on behalf of the tribunal, before it sourced the money to an account in the name of Princes Investments Ltd, in Tralee, Co Kerry. This is another of Mr Byrne's companies.
Mr Byrne has said it was his understanding that the £260,000 was for Guinness & Mahon bank to pay off a loan which Princes Investments had taken out in 1979. A cheque was written out for Guinness & Mahon bank but it was converted into an AIB banker's draft and lodged to the Amiens account.
Mr Traynor, who controlled the Amiens account, was a director of other companies owned by Mr Byrne and was a close financial adviser. The Cayman bank established by Mr Traynor in the 1970s manages the trust which owns most of Mr Byrne's property companies.
The extraordinary fact is, however, that the loan Mr Byrne says he was paying off had been paid off two years earlier with money from the Ansbacher deposits. Not only that but someone with access to the files of Guinness & Mahon made sure the statements for the loan account did not make it to the bank's archives.
Also, bogus statements were produced within Guinness & Mahon purporting to show the loan was still in existence. These statements were placed on the company's file and allowed the bank to issue certificates to the Revenue Commissioners stating that the loan was still in existence. The interest on the loan could then be claimed against tax.
This whole extraordinary state of affairs is similar to what occurred with Central Tourist Holdings, the company linked to Mr Byrne and with which the Fianna Fail TD Mr Denis Foley was involved. That company had its loan with Guinness & Mahon paid off with money from the Ansbacher deposits on the same date as the Princes Investments loan was settled.
However, subsequently someone opened two new accounts in the company's name, drew down a loan from one and lodged the money to the other, then issued a certificate to the auditors of Central Tourist Holdings, Haughey Boland & Co, for production to the Revenue, stating that the company still had a loan. After the certificate was issued, the lodgement was returned to the other account settling the loan.
Central Tourist Holdings organised dances at the Mount Brandon Hotel, Tralee, in the 1970s. A site centred on the Brandon Hotel, part owned by Mr Byrne, was unexpectedly granted special tax designation in 1988 by Mr Haughey's government.
A second designation decision in 1990 granted similar designation to the Tara Street baths, which Mr Byrne had owned since the early 1970s.