Tribunal examines company linked to FF deputy

The Moriarty tribunal is investigating transactions of a company connected with a member of the Dail Public Accounts Committee team which undertook the DIRT inquiry.

One of the directors of the company, Central Tourist Holdings, is Mr Denis Foley, Fianna Fail TD for Kerry North, who was a member of the six-man PAC sub-committee which investigated DIRT evasion in the banking system.

The tribunal is believed to have investigated offshore transactions involving Central Tourist Holdings. Another director is Mr John Byrne, a property developer, who was linked in a court affidavit, presented on behalf of the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, with the Ansbacher deposits in the Cayman Islands.

The investigations by the Moriarty tribunal are believed to concern the offshore transactions involving Central Tourist Holdings. Continued investigations of the deposits by inspectors operating on behalf of Ms Harney are also believed to have come across the transactions.

Central Tourist Holdings, with a registered address in Mespil Road, Dublin, was wound up last year. It does not appear to have traded in any meaningful way for some years.

Its last return to the Companies Office, dated 1989, lists Mr Foley and Mr Byrne among its directors. Mr Foley, who is from Tralee, Co Kerry, is also listed as a shareholder, holding one of the four shares in issue at the time.

The company, which was incorporated in 1972, is believed to have operated mainly in the Kerry region in entertainment-related businesses, such as organising dances. It may also have had some property interests.

Contacted last night, Mr Foley referred queries to his solicitor. Asked whether the company was under investigation by the tribunal he said: "Not to my knowledge". His solicitor could not be contacted for comment.

A former rate-collector, Mr Foley was first elected to the Dail in 1981 and served as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee for a period during the 1980s. Last year he was one of the six TDs who sat on the PAC subcommittee, chaired by Mr Jim Mitchell, which held lengthy hearings to investigate the issue of bogus offshore accounts held in the banking system and the resulting evasion of DIRT tax. The recommendations of the subcommittee are currently being considered by the Government.

Mr Byrne has already appeared before the tribunal in relation to money paid into his company, Carlisle Trust, by Mr Ben Dunne and paid out to Celtic Helicopters, the company run by Mr Ciaran Haughey, the son of the former taoiseach, and to Mr Des Traynor, Mr Charles Haughey's late accountant.

Carlisle Trust was registered in the Cayman Islands and had close links with the Guinness & Mahon Cayman Trust, run by Mr Des Traynor.

Mr Byrne was also mentioned in an affidavit presented to the High Court on behalf of Tanaiste, Ms Harney last year.

The affidavit pointed out that two companies owned by Mr Byrne benefited from loans of £17.5 million from Irish Intercontinental Bank between 1991 and 1997, guaranteed by funds held by Ansbacher (Cayman), the bank which managed the Ansbacher deposits and on whose behalf they were held in the Irish banking system.