Mr Justice Moriarty ruled yesterday that Mr Padraig Collery's response to an article in The Irish Times on Monday could assist in the "fact-finding task" of the tribunal.
Counsel for the tribunal, Mr John Coughlan SC, read an article by Colm Keena into the record, which reported that Mr Barry Benjamin, a Cayman Islands businessman who had control over at least some of the money in the Ansbacher deposits, believed that legally the money belonged to the late Cayman banker, Mr John Furze.
Mr Benjamin had told Mr Keena that any depositor who wanted information about their account or to make a withdrawal would have to produce proof that they were the true owner of the account.
Mr Justice Moriarty made his comments in response to an objection from Mr Collery's counsel, Mr Noel Devitt, who said he did not want to see Mr Collery "being asked to test his evidence against the accuracy or the veracity of what appeared in yesterday's Times".
The chairman said tribunal lawyers had a "latitude" in attempting to uncover facts which meant that, on occasion, the "strict evidential rulings" that would apply in the High Court to hearsay evidence did not apply.
"I believe that in the circumstances of the essential fact-finding task of the tribunal it is appropriate and indeed necessary that the content of this article be inquired into," he said.
Earlier, Mr Coughlan said the tribunal had ascertained from Mr Keena that he did have a conversation with Mr Barry Benjamin and the article was an accurate report.
Mr Collery agreed with Mr Coughlan that he was satisfied that he had "identified to Mr Benjamin who the appropriate clients were and that they were the people who were entitled to access to those funds".
Mr Collery had not told depositors "that they would have to establish some sort of a legal proof to satisfy Mr Benjamin that they were entitled to access to their own money".
He agreed with Mr Coughlan that after he visited the Cayman Islands "it was possible to establish who was entitled to the money, every single penny".
