Top accountant gave evidence to two tribunals on the bill-paying service run by Haughey Boland for former Taoiseach Charles Haughey, writes Colm Keena.
Mr Paul Carty, the former senior partner with Deloitte & Touche who is taking an action against the Blayney Inquiry, played a role in matters linked to the finances of Mr Charles Haughey.
He has given evidence to the McCracken (Dunnes Payments) Tribunal and the Moriarty (Payments to Politicians) Tribunal on these matters. They are: the bill-paying service run by Haughey Boland for Mr Haughey; Celtic Helicopters; and matters linked to property developer Mr John Byrne.
In February 1992, Mr Carty was one of three accountants who met for lunch to discuss the sensitive matter of the bill-paying service run for many years for Mr Haughey by Haughey Boland. All three had started their careers with the accountancy firm.
As well as Mr Carty, the lunch was attended by the late Mr Des Traynor and Mr Jack Stakelum. At the time, Mr Traynor was chairman of CRH and Mr Stakelum was running his own business, Business Enterprises.
Haughey Boland was merging with Deloitte & Touche at the time and Mr Traynor had concerns about confidentiality. He did not want Mr Haughey's affairs being handled by a multinational accountancy firm. Mr Stakelum agreed to take over.
Significant amounts were passing through the service. Mr Carty told the Moriarty tribunal that €901,514 was spent settling Mr Haughey's bills in the period August 1988 to January 1991. Bills paid included clothes, sustenance, electricity and phone bills, and wages for Kinsealy.
Invoices were received from Mr Haughey's secretary and settled with money given to Haughey Boland by Mr Traynor and Guinness & Mahon bank. Mr Carty said that in a discussion with Mr Traynor in 1991, he formed the impression that the money used to settle Mr Haughey's bills came from borrowings.
Mr Carty joined Haughey Boland in 1968 and was made a partner in 1971. He became a senior partner in 1986. He served two terms as managing partner of Deloitte & Touche. He retired from the firm last May.
Mr Carty is a former director of Celtic Helicopters, the company set up by Mr Haughey's son, Mr Ciaran Haughey. He was a director of the company between 1985 and 1992.
Mr Carty gave evidence to the Moriarty tribunal about a €127,000 investment in the company made in 1982. This was made by Mr Mike Murphy, of Mike Murphy Insurance Brokers, who said it was made on behalf of Mr David Gresty, a Monaco-based businessman.
Mr Carty told the tribunal of discussing the making of the investment with Mr Murphy several times. By way of a third party, he gave Mr Murphy the details concerning an Ansbacher account in Zurich into which the money should be paid.
Mr Carty got this information from Mr Traynor, the tribunal heard. He thought it was linked to a nominee account into which investments in Celtic Helicopters were being placed.
Evidence was also heard from Mr Carty on Princes Investments, which manages the Mount Brandon Hotel, in Tralee, Co Kerry.
The firm took out a €147,290 loan from Guinness & Mahon in 1975 which was backed by money in the Ansbacher deposits. The loan was paid off with money from the deposits in September 1985.
A month later, Guinness & Mahon bank produced a bogus bank statement purporting to show the loan as still existing. This document was then given to Deloitte & Touche, which prepared accounts for Princes Investments.
Mr Carty, an adviser to the company, said he never knew the loan had been repaid at that time.
Later, when money was sent to Guinness & Mahon purporting to pay off the loan, it was in fact lodged to accounts in the bank, including one used to settle expenses incurred by Mr Haughey.
The company was owned by Mr Byrne, Mr Thomas Clifford and Mr William Clifford. They told the tribunal they had not known the loan had been repaid with money from the Ansbacher deposits.
A similar scenario occurred regarding a firm called Central Tourist Holdings, a firm owned by the Fianna Fáil TD, Mr Denis Foley as well as Mr Byrne and Mr Thomas Clifford. Again, Mr Carty was auditor to the company. He said he knew nothing of the loan being repaid from the Ansbacher deposits or bogus documentation being prepared by the bank.
The documentation is believed to have been prepared on the instructions of the late Mr Traynor.
Mr Carty contested evidence given by Mr Charles Haughey on Celtic Helicopters. Mr Haughey suggested Mr Carty was acting "in loco parentis" for the company but Mr Carty strongly contested this.
He said he was acting as a professional accountant taking instructions from a client.
Mr Pat Kenny, a senior partner with Deloitte & Touche, acted as Mr Haughey's tax agent for many years. Mr Kenny told the tribunal he never knew the amount of money passing through Mr Haughey's bill-paying service.
He said he believed Mr Haughey's affairs were organised so the persons operating the different elements involved were kept in ignorance as to the details of what others were doing.
It is not known what findings concerning Mr Carty and Deloitte & Touche have been made by the Blayney inquiry or how they relate to the matters covered by the McCracken and Moriarty tribunals. The Blayney inquiry was set up following the 1997 McCracken Report.
