FORMER FINANCE director of Anglo Irish Bank Willie McAteer has been arrested for a second time for questioning about alleged financial irregularities at the bank dating back to 2008.
Mr McAteer, the second most senior executive at the bank before his resignation in January 2009, was arrested at his home in Rathgar in south Dublin at 8am.
He was questioned by detectives from the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation at Irishtown Garda station. He can be held for questioning for up to 24 hours.
He was detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 on suspicion of false accounting.
Mr McAteer was first arrested and later released without charge in March 2010 shortly after the arrest and questioning of former Anglo chairman Seán FitzPatrick.
Gardaí could only rearrest Mr McAteer to question him about information that has arisen since his last arrest. His detention raises the prospect of further arrests of former senior Anglo executives in light of the new information.
The Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation is examining the €7.2 billion deposit swap between Anglo and Irish Life and Permanent which made Anglo’s end-of-year financial position in 2008 look healthier than it actually was.
Gardaí are also investigating loans of €451 million made by the bank to 10 customers to buy 10 per cent of the bank being sold by businessman Seán Quinn in July 2008.
A chartered accountant, Mr McAteer (60) held the joint roles of finance director and chief risk officer before he resigned.
The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement is also investigating this “Maple 10” transaction as well as the bank’s loans to directors, including Mr FitzPatrick and Mr McAteer.
It is also examining financial and other public statements published by Anglo during 2008.
Three files on the investigations into Anglo, now almost three years old, have been sent to the DPP.
Mr McAteer received a loan of €8.25 million from Anglo on September 29th, 2008, to avoid the sale of his Anglo shares on the market to cover repayment of another loan to Bank of Ireland.
He held more than 3 million shares in the bank, which were worth almost €60 million at the peak of Anglo’s success in 2007.
He was paid €660,000 in his last full year at the bank in 2008.
Anglo and Irish Nationwide Building Society, which are now known as Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, are getting €34.7 billion in State capital to cover losses.
Some €30.6 billion of the capital is being injected into the bank through promissory notes or IOUs, on which the State will pay a further €17 billion in interest costs. The Government is seeking to restructure the promissory notes to reduce this cost.
Opposition parties put further pressure on the Government to stop the repayment of a $1 billion (€715 million) bond today to senior unsecured and unguaranteed bondholders in Anglo.
Alan Dukes, the chairman of IBRC, confirmed the bond repayment would be made today. He warned of serious implications if it was not repaid.
Opposition TDs Mary Lou McDonald of Sinn Féin and Independent Stephen Donnelly called for the repayment to be stopped.
Fianna Fáil’s finance spokesman Michael McGrath called on the Taoiseach to contact the new president of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi to impress upon him the need to make “substantial savings” on the outstanding debts at IBRC.
