Bula Resources

In October 1997, barrister Mr Lyndon McCann was appointed an inspector under section 14 of the Companies Act 1990, to inquire into certain dealings in shares in Bula Resources plc.

Mr McCann reported in July 1998 and his report was published. His primary finding was that the former chairman and chief executive of Bula, Mr Jim Stanley, was at all times the beneficial owner of a company, Mir Oil Development Ltd, and that Bula shares held by Chamonix Nominees Ltd in trust for Mir Oil, were at all times owned by Mr Stanley.

Mr Stanley refused to meet with Mr McCann. The inspector's report was forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Stock Exchange and the Central Bank. No prosecutions have occurred. The inquiry cost £203,000 (€257,760).

Celtic Helicopters

Mr Gerard Ryan was appointed to Celtic Helicopters, the company part-owned by Mr Ciaran Haughey, in September 1997, just a fortnight after the publication of the McCracken report.

That report detailed loans taken out by Celtic Helicopters from Guinness & Mahon Bank and Irish Intercontinental Bank, which were secretly backed by funds in the Ansbacher deposits. In one instance, a loan was repaid with funds from the deposits.

It was following the submission of an interim report by Mr Ryan to Ms Harney that she appointed him an authorised officer to Guinness & Mahon Bank and Irish Intercontinental Bank.

Mr Ryan's report into Celtic Helicopters has not yet been completed.

Guinness & Mahon/IIB

On January 8th, 1998, Mr Gerard Ryan was appointed an authorised officer to Guinness & Mahon Bank and to Irish Intercontinental Bank.

Both Irish banks were involved in taking deposits from Ansbacher Cayman Ltd and Hamilton Ross Company Ltd. Ansbacher is a Cayman Islands bank and a former subsidiary of Guinness & Mahon. Hamilton Ross was run by a former executive from Ansbacher Cayman, the late Mr John Furze.

Mr Ryan completed his report into IIB recently and Ms Harney is currently considering whether to seek the appointment of an inspector by the High Court. When the report into Guinness & Mahon is received, it is likely Ms Harney will consider seeking the appointment of an inspector to that bank also.

Ansbacher Cayman/Hamilton Ross

On the same date as he was appointed an authorised officer to Guinness & Mahon Bank and Irish Intercontinental Bank, Mr Gerard Ryan was also appointed to the Cayman Islands bank, Ansbacher Cayman Ltd.

Ansbacher Cayman was formerly called Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust and was established by the late Mr Des Traynor in the early 1970s. It deposited funds here which have come to be known as the Ansbacher deposits. Two weeks after Mr Ryan's appointment to Ansbacher Cayman, he was also appointed to another Cayman company, Hamilton Ross Company Ltd.

Hamilton Ross, which also placed deposits here, was run by the late Cayman Islands banker, Mr John Furze. Funds belonging to Mr Charles Haughey were held by Hamilton Ross in Irish Intercontinental Bank.

Mr Ryan submitted his final report on Ansbacher Cayman in June 1999. His report on Hamilton Ross has not yet been completed.

Garuda/Faxhill Homes

MR Peter Fisher, a civil servant in Ms Harney's department, was appointed an authorised officer to Mr Michael Lowry's company, Garuda Ltd, in September 1997 in the wake of the publication of the McCracken report.

Mr Justice McCracken reported that various cheques cashed by Mr Lowry were in fact payments from Dunnes Stores to Garuda for work carried out by that company. Garuda, trading as Streamline Enterprises, conducts refrigeration work for Dunnes.

The final report on Garuda was submitted to Ms Harney in December 1998. No charges have since been brought against the company.

An accountant, Mr George Maloney, was appointed an authorised officer to Faxhill Homes Ltd in July 1998 and a report was furnished in December of that year. The work cost £135,000.

Faxhill is the company which conducted work on Mr Lowry's home in Co Tipperary, the bill for which was paid by Dunnes Stores. Over the past two months, the department issued 30 summonses against Faxhill.

Kentford Securities And College Trustees

When the late Mr Des Traynor moved the Ansbacher deposits from Guinness & Mahon Bank to Irish Intercontinental Bank (IIB) in the early 1990s, he could not make cash withdrawals because IIB did not provide such a service.

He opened accounts with the Bank of Ireland in the name of Kentford Securities and used this account for making cash withdrawals for customers, transferring funds from IIB to the Kentford accounts to allow for such transactions.

Mr Gerard Ryan was appointed an authorised officer to Kentford in June 1998 and has not yet submitted his report.

Mr Ryan was appointed to College Trustees, a Channel Islands company linked to the Ansbacher deposits, in March 1999. College Trustees, which is now owned by Credit Suisse Trust Holdings, managed funds for wealthy Irish customers among others. It is not co-operating with Mr Ryan's inquiry, which is not yet completed.

Dunnes Stores

In the wake of the McCracken report, Ms Harney was informed that the Dunnes group would voluntarily co-operate with any inquiry. As a result, she decided not to appoint an authorised officer to companies in the group.

However, she subsequently changed her mind and in July 1998 appointed an authorised officer to Dunnes Stores (ILAC) Company and Dunnes Stores Ireland Company.

The appointments have been contested by Dunnes and, to date, three High Court hearings and one Supreme Court hearing have taken place. The most recent decision was by the High Court in July, which ruled that the decision to make the appointments was "unreasonable and irrational". This ruling is currently being appealed by Ms Harney to the Supreme Court.

To date, legal costs in excess of £100,000 (€127,000) have built up and the current situation is that they are falling to the department.

NIB/NIBFSL

Following broadcasts by RTE in January 1998, an authorised officer was appointed to National Irish Bank Financial Services Ltd (NIBFSL) under section 59 of the Insurances Act 1989.

The company was engaged in the distribution of unauthorised offshore bonds and it was suspected that many of the people who purchased the bonds were using funds which had not been declared to the Revenue. Mr Martin Cosgrove submitted his report to Ms Harney in June 1998 and found that £50 million (€63.4 million) had been invested since 1991 in the unauthorised products.

In March 1998, Ms Harney had petitioned the High Court for the appointment of an inspector to NIB following reports that the bank was involved in charging customers excess fees and interest charges. The court appointed Mr Justice John Blayney and Mr Tom Grace as inspectors.

Following Mr Cosgrove's report, Ms Harney again approached the court and had the NIB inspectors appointed to NIBFSL. There were a number of court cases relating to the inspectors' work, and these have delayed matters. It is not clear when the inspectors will be presenting their final report.

An interim report was submitted to the High Court in late July, but what it contained has not been disclosed. When the final report is furnished, it will be a matter for the court to decide if it should be published or not.

The inspectors' work is understood to have cost close to £2 million to date and Ms Harney has said she hopes to recoup the money from the bank. The Revenue, in its annual report published in July, disclosed that its inquiry into NIB's offshore products has resulted in payments totalling just under £20 million to date. Defaulters are likely to be publicly identified over the coming months.