A senior AIB official denied yesterday that the bank had a "lax attitude" to exchange control regulations, despite the fact that it opened and operated an offshore account for Mr Michael Lowry for which clearance could not have been obtained.
Mr Peter Tierney, a former assistant manager at AIB Dame Street, who was Mr Michael Lowry's "first and preferred contact" at the bank, admitted writing a letter to AIB Jersey in December 1991 asking for confirmation of a £100,000 sterling deposit to the TD's account.
Mr Jerry Healy SC, for the tribunal, asked why AIB would "lend its assistance to a customer to obtain information concerning an irregular offshore account in one of its subsidiaries".
Mr Tierney said he would not have considered seeking an account statement irregular. "All I was doing was facilitating a customer in getting information about an account he had."
He could not recollect the letter although he accepted he sent it.
Mr Healy asked was it possible "that the bank had a casual and a lax attitude to exchange control to the point that you don't remember anything about transactions that might have been in breach of exchange control."
"No," replied Mr Tierney, "I think the exchange control regulations were applied quite correctly."
Mr Healy noted that no one in the bank could explain how Mr Lowry's account was opened, adding there was "an amazing dearth of records and an intriguing lack of recollection" suggesting "an extremely idiosyncratic, or an eccentric or lax attitude towards exchange control". Mr Tierney replied: "certainly not".
Later, Mr Philip Dalton, a Central Bank official, said he would be "surprised" if any banker thought exchange control clearance could have been obtained for Mr Lowry's offshore account. He said the Jersey account, which was opened to accumulate capital, was the sort of account the regulations aimed to abolish. The tribunal will sit in private today.
