The final report by the court-appointed inspectors into the affairs of Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd was handed to the President of the High Court yesterday. It names 200 individuals and companies. The Ansbacher inquiry, which began in September 1999, discovered a significant number of senior business people who had connections with secretive deposits.
It has been reported that, in addition to the 120 deposit holders named in a report by authorised officer Mr Gerard Ryan, inspectors had identified others, including senior business figures in the Republic from the 1970s up to 1994. Yesterday, Mr Shane Murphy SC, for the inspectors, handed their final report to the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Finnegan. The judge adjourned the matter for two weeks to consider the contents.
Mr Justice Finnegan also directed that copies be furnished to the Director of Corporate Enforcement, and to the Tánaiste, Ms Harney.
Under Section 11 of the 1990 Companies Act, the judge may also give copies to a company or to a person whose conduct is referred to in the report. He may also direct that a particular part of the report be omitted. Mr Justice Finnegan directed that no details of the report were to be published by any party pending his decision in two weeks' time, when the court will decide whether the report be made public and what action, if any, should be taken against those named in the report.
The inspectors, appointed on the application of Ms Harney, had asked the Ansbacher bank for any records that identified any Irish residents who deposited funds in the bank either directly or through banks other than Guinness and Mahon Ltd.
