A number of employees of National Irish Bank were invited to Australia by Clerical Medical International (CMI) in 1994 as a reward for their sales of the company's product.

CMI runs a scheme whereby distributors of their products are given points for certain levels of sales. Companies which "win" a sufficient number of points can then select employees to go to CMI conventions.

Mr David Shelton of CMI said he could not recall where the convention was held in 1994, other than it was in Australia. Such conventions normally last "two to three days".

A number of staff from the financial services advisory division of NIB are understood to have travelled to the convention. The staff selected had earned over £70,000 in commission for the bank from their CMI sales.