Extensive details of the Ansbacher deposits are now to be made available to an officer appointed by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney. One of the banks which controlled the deposits gave the officer details of the accounts yesterday and the other bank now looks likely to provide the information also.
The authorised officer, Mr Gerard Ryan, is investigating possible breaches of the law involving the accounts.
He was given documents relating to the deposits yesterday by Guinness & Mahon bank, the Irish bank where the deposits were held from the 1970s up to the late 1980s. The bank to which the deposits were moved from 1989 to 1991, Irish Intercontinental Bank (IIB), has taken court action questioning the Tanaiste's power to seek the information, but it is now thought likely to provide it.
The information will enable the officer to gain a wide overview of how the accounts operated, although it is not clear if it will identify the beneficiaries.
Counsel for IIB told the High Court yesterday that the bank had no difficulty with handing over the documents once it was satisfied that Ms Harney was acting within her jurisdiction. The Tanaiste supplied an affidavit outlining her grounds for appointing the officer to the bank on Tuesday. An adjournment for one week was granted to the bank, which requested time to consider the Tanaiste's affidavit.
Meanwhile, Opposition whips met yesterday to discuss an agreed motion on the Moriarty Tribunal which would widen its terms to include the Ansbacher deposits. The party leaders are to consider the matter today.
The motion would provide for an initial private examination of all accounts and then require the tribunal to conduct a public inquiry into those accounts where evidence of tax evasion or exchange control breaches existed. However, a Government spokesman said that its legal advice was that the tribunal's terms of reference could not now be changed.
The Moriarty Tribunal, in pursuing its investigation into the affairs of Mr Charles Haughey, is also to receive substantial documentation relating to the Ansbacher deposits. The High Court was told that IIB had been served with a discovery order from the tribunal in relation to the Ansbacher deposits and would supply the documents by January 21st.
The other bank involved in managing the Ansbacher deposits, Guinness & Mahon, is also thought to be forwarding information on the accounts to the tribunal. Meanwhile, information on the accounts is being made available to Ms Harney's officer.
Counsel for the Tanaiste, Mr Peter Charleton SC, told the High Court yesterday that the investigation into the deposits could involve issues relating to the tax code, exchange controls and criminal complicity in offences.
Mr Ryan was appointed to look into matters involving Celtic Helicopters, run by Mr Haughey's son, Mr Ciaran Haughey, last September, following publication of the McCracken report. Late last week, after he had supplied an interim report on his investigation into Celtic Helicopters, he was asked to investigate possible wrongdoing involving the Ansbacher deposits in general.
Ms Harney, in her affidavit giving the grounds for her action, is understood to have cited aspects of the McCracken report and of the authorised officer's interim report into Celtic Helicopters.
Mr Ryan was appointed under Section 19 of the Companies Act, 1990. Appointments under the section are made when the Minister is of the opinion that there are "circumstances suggesting" activities listed in the Act. Among the activities listed are possible defrauding of creditors. The Revenue Commissioners are creditors and in the instance of the Ansbacher deposits there has been speculation that the secret accounts might have been used by depositors to evade tax.
It remains unclear to what extent the names of individuals who had accounts in the Ansbacher deposits is known to the banks or can be deduced from documents held by them.
