The property development company, Carlisle Trust, has confirmed it has been contacted by the Moriarty tribunal.
"My clients have been co-operating with the tribunal on a confidential basis and it would not therefore be appropriate to make any further statement about this matter at this time," a spokesman for the company told The Irish Times.
Last month, during a High Court case involving Dunnes Stores and the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, it was revealed that three cheques for a total of £180,000, issued in November 1992 by Mr Ben Dunne, were lodged in a Carlisle Trust account in the Rotunda branch of the Bank of Ireland in Dublin. Of this, £100,000 subsequently went to Celtic Helicopters, the company run by Mr Ciaran Haughey, son of the former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey. The rest of the money went to the late Mr Des Traynor, a director of Carlisle Trust from 1961 up to his death in 1994. Mr Traynor was a close friend and financial adviser to Mr Charles Haughey.
The Moriarty tribunal is inquiring into the finances of the former Taoiseach. Carlisle Trust is owned by Mr John Byrne, who is believed to be one of the wealthiest property developers in the State. His company is the owner of a number of investment properties, including substantial office blocks such as O'Connell Bridge House on D'Olier Street, Dublin.
The latest annual returns lodged with the Companies Office, which are for the year to December 31st, 1993, show the company with a total indebtedness - money owed in respect of all registered mortgages and charges - of £4.3 million. This is made up of mortgages and loans secured against some of the company's properties. Companies Office records show Carlisle at different times having mortgages from Guinness & Mahon bank, Merchant Banking Ltd, and the Rotunda branch of the Bank of Ireland. In 1982 the company had a recorded indebtedness of £6.3 million.
The company's registered office is given as Inns Court, Dublin 8, which is the address of Management and Investment Services Ltd, the company secretarial services operation run by Mr Sam Field Corbett. Mr Field Corbett is a former employee of the Haughey Boland accountancy firm. For a time after the death of Mr Traynor in 1994, files concerning the Ansbacher deposits were held at this address.
The directors of Carlisle Trust listed in the 1993 annual returns are: Mr Byrne; his wife, Mrs Ciara Byrne; Mr Anthony Gore-Grimes; and Mr Traynor. Mr Gore-Grimes resigned as a director in February of this year.
The files in the Companies Office show the shareholding in Carlisle Trust to be broken into 10 preference shares and 990 ordinary shares. In 1972 the 990 ordinary shares were transferred by Mr Byrne to Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust, the Cayman Islands bank set up that year by Mr Traynor. Mr Traynor was at the time a director of Guinness & Mahon bank, Dublin, and Carlisle Trust.
The preference shares are owned by Mr and Mrs Byrne. Carlisle Trust owns three subsidiaries: Endcamp Ltd; Alstead Securities; and J.E.C. Properties. Mr and Mrs Byrne are both directors of these three companies, according to the 1993 returns. They are also both directors of Dublin City Estates.
Carlisle Trust was incorporated in 1958. At the time Mr Byrne was described in the company documentation as a dance hall proprietor and with an address in Bayswater, London. He now lives in Simmonscourt Lodge, in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
