Des Traynor

Des Traynor (3 June 1931 - 11 May 1994) was an Irish banker, financier and accountant known for his dealings with Charles Haughey and his involvement in the "Ansbacher Affair". He became known as "Charlie's Bag Man".

Early life and family Des Traynor was born James Desmond Traynor on 3 June 1931 in Dublin. His parents were John Joseph and Kathleen Traynor (née O'Connor) who lived at 39 Grand Canal Street, Dublin. His father was a motor driver. Traynor attended the Christian Brothers School on Westland Row, and later St Mary's College, Rathmines. In 1951, he joined the Haughey Boland firm of accountants as its first articled clerk, articled to Charles Haughey. His long relationship with Haughey earned him the nickname of "Charlie's Bag Man".

Traynor married Doreen, and lived at Kilronan, Howth Road, Clontarf, Dublin. They had 1 daughter and 6 sons.

In Ireland in 1974 the government introduced capital gains tax, and the highest income-tax bracket was 80%. Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust was given a banking licence, and Traynor devised a discretionary trust operation which enabled clients to avoid the high Irish tax by moving their money offshore to the Caymans. Exchange controls came into effect when Ireland and the Caymans left the sterling area to prevent this sort of transfer, but for the next 10 years, deposits from Ireland to the Cayman Bank grew. Traynor even facilitated funds being redeposited in with Guinness & Mahon in Dublin. The money was nominally held in the name of the Cayman bank, while the bank also often was the named trustee for the offshore funds. This allowed for the bank's customers to claim the money was offshore when it was in fact accessible from Ireland. If the customer needed to withdraw a large sum, it was processed as a loan, secured from the customer's account in the Caymans secretly. These transactions were concealed from inspection, with Traynor keeping "memorandum accounts" that recorded these transactions, with each account associated with a code not a customer's name. until his death from cancer on 11 May 1994. After his death, the finances of Haughey were investigated, with the High Court appointing inspectors to investigate the "Ansbacher accounts". The 2002 report listed 179 people and companies for whom Traynor worked. It was not established if all named were involved in illegal activity. Traynor himself paid his personal taxes, and kept his own money in Ireland with the ICS building society. His estate later made a tax settlement of over €4 million.