Sam Field Corbett, Invested money in Ansbacher
Ray McLaughlin, Wrote "note to John Furze"
A business associate of the late Des Traynor and Pádraig Collery has told the Moriarty tribunal that he invested money in Ansbacher. Sam Field-Corbett, an accountant, has also confirmed that he gave the names of other people he believes to have benefited from Ansbacher to a private sitting of the Tribunal.
Mr Field-Corbett has been explaining how he became involved in running the Ansbacher scheme, described this afternoon by Tribunal lawyers as a scheme "for hush hush money". Sam Field-Corbett worked with Des Traynor in the Haughey-Boland Accountancy firm and held him in high regard. When he set up on his own, Mr Traynor would pass business on to him. He said that he also came in contact with Pádraig Collery and John Furze, he used to dine out with them all and their wives a few times a year.
Mr Field-Corbett knew about the Cayman "scenario", as he called it, and he gave Des Traynor money to invest in it. When Mr Traynor died, Pádraig Collery moved four filing cabinets and a computer into a corner of one of Mr Field-Corbett's offices in Winetavern Street. From here, the multi-million pound scheme continued to operate. As well as this space, Mr Field-Corbett also became a bank signatory for the scheme, signing cheques and drafts when Pádraig Collery was not available.
It emerged that he actually ran another coded Ansbacher account known as Diamond Trust, which bought and sold shares in Australia. He took instructions from John Furze and a Mr Ron Woss in Australia a few times a week. This practice stopped as the McCracken Tribunal began.
Earlier today, businessman Ray McLoughlin spoke of how he came to draft the note to John Furze following a meeting with the Cayman banker in 1983. The note is a detailed 36-page bound document, with a series of questions and answers on how to set up a trust fund in the Cayman Islands.
Ray McLoughlin said that he probably spat this information into a Dictaphone in his car on the way back to his office, had it typed up and then it died a death. He also said he probably gave the note to his close friend and informal business advisor, Kyran McLaughlin, the former chief executive of Davy Stockbrokers.
