Complete Report of the Inspectors Appointed to Enquire into the Affairs of Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd

Thursday July 11, 2002 22:14

by Anon

Tax Evasion Report Released: Available On Web Now Through Indymedia

THE LINK TO FULL REPORT IS: http://217.114.163.201/ansbacher/ Fully hotlinked version of this feature tomorrow on front page.

Update: Above link broken. It is now available from: http://thestory.ie/2009/12/04/ansbacher-report/

After two tribunals, numerous trips to the High Court and a further delay to allow for printing, the Ansbacher Report, detailing suspected tax evasion, illegal banking operations and numerous breaches of company law right up to the 1990s, and pointing the finger at builders, bankers, restaurant owners and former Taoiseach Charles Haughey, was finally published. It stretches to ten thousand pages and comes in two large boxes. A CD-ROM version was also made available, at a cost of E25.40.

The vast majority of official reports are now made freely available online, for example the (1) benchmarking report. However, the Director of Corporate Enforcement (Paul Appelby) decided not to publish the report on the Web, due to fears over the State being sued in other jurisdictions for defamation – if this was to happen, it would mean a (2) serious restriction on the freedom of
the media and even sovereign Governments to report on controversial issues.

You can read the full report online for free, by clicking on (3) this link. Some sections to note are the (4) conclusions of the inspectors and of course the infamous “list of names”, published on the (5) newswire.

The Dáil has been (6) recalled to discuss the report. None of the people or corporations named in the report have been (7) tried before a court, however the Socialist Workers’ Party have called for the Ansbacher Gang to be (8)jailed. The Director of Corporate Enforcement in a (9) press release was not willing to commit to any particular course of legal action, and fears are
growing that, as was the case with the Beef Tribunal, no prosecutions will follow. Charles Haughey, the subject of (10) much criticism in the (11) inspector’s report, had a previous trial suspended when his lawyers argued
that the statements of Mary Harney and the SWP contributed to a climate where
a fair trial would be impossible. The commercial media have reported on the findings in depth, with many journalists writing that those who are alleged to have evaded tax were innocently “caught up” in the illegal banking scheme run by Ansbacher and Haughey’s accountant, the late Des Traynor.

(1http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/department/publications.asp?lang=ENG&loc=21
(2)http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=7701
(3)http://217.114.163.201/ansbacher/
(4)Chapter 29
(5)http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=7695
(6)http://www.gov.ie/debates-02/11Jul/default.htm
(7)http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=7691
(8)http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=7755
(9)http://www.odce.ie/_fileupload/new/PRESS_STATEMENT_20706.doc
(10) Point 3.11, at page 59
(11) Appendix 54