Traynor's personal account used to pay Haughey's bills

Mr Des Traynor withdrew £41,000 from his personal bank account to pay Mr Charles Haughey's bills when the then Fianna Fail leader…

Mr Des Traynor withdrew £41,000 from his personal bank account to pay Mr Charles Haughey's bills when the then Fianna Fail leader was Taoiseach.

The sum left Mr Traynor's account at Guinness & Mahon Bank for Mr Haughey's bill-paying account at the Haughey Boland firm of accountants in 1990. The debit "corresponds to the penny" to a credit to the client account from which Mr Haughey's bills were paid, Mr John Coughlan SC said.

Mr Traynor was Mr Haughey's personal financial adviser and a key architect of the Ansbacher deposits. The client account at Haughey Boland paid for the former Taoiseach's farm, stud and household expenses.

The financial controller of Guinness & Mahon, Ms Sandra Kells, detailed at least £807,000 of funds which appear to have been transferred from accounts at Guinness & Mahon to the bill-paying account at Haughey Boland.

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Records of the transfers from the Amiens Securities Ltd and Kentford Securities Ltd accounts at the bank for the period 19851987 and 1989 to January 1991 were examined in public by the Tribunal yesterday.

Drawings from the accounts controlled by the late Mr Traynor which corresponded to credits to the Haughey Boland account climbed from £55,000 in 1985, when Fianna Fail was in opposition, to more than £271,000 in 1990 when Mr Haughey was Taoiseach of the Fianna Fail-Progressive Democrat coalition.

Ms Kells told the tribunal the bank had "difficulty retrieving some records for various years".

She said she was satisfied that a lodgement to the Ansbacher sundry sterling account at Guinness & Mahon was the proceeds of a Ulster Bank draft for sterling £200,000 paid to Overseas Nominees Ltd by NCB stockbrokers. "Whilst not being directly able to attribute it to this instrument . . . I think it's only fair to assume that this is the proceeds of that Ulster Bank draft in the sum of £200,000," Ms Kells said.

After hearing evidence from Mr Paul Carty, managing partner at Deloitte and Touche, about the lodgements to the Haughey Boland account, the tribunal went into private session.

Mr Coughlan said it was necessary to exclude the public because evidence from the next witness would "identify the names of certain people".

Roddy O'Sullivan

Roddy O'Sullivan

Roddy O'Sullivan is a Duty Editor at The Irish Times