Former Irish Life and Permanent (ILP) finance director Peter Fitzpatrick has been found not guilty of conspiring with others to create a false impression as to the financial health of Anglo Irish Bank in 2008.
There were emotional scenes in the court when the jury announced the decision in the afternoon, in what is the longest jury deliberation of recent times. Mr Fitzpatrick (63) put his face in his hands. Judge Martin Nolan told him he was free to leave.
Meanwhile, however the jury was sent to resume deliberations in relation to the other former ILP executive before the court, former group chief executive, Denis Casey. The jury has already found two former executives of Anglo Irish Bank guilty of the same charge.
Mr Fitzpatrick was accompanied in the court by a large number of family members who hugged each other and expressed their relief outside thhe courtroom after the verdict had been delivered. When leaving the courts building on Parkgate Street, Dublin, Mr Fitzpatrick said nothing to the media other than that he was “relieved”.
The eleven-member jury was told by Judge Nolan this morning that while a unanimous verdict was always preferable, he was directing that it could reach a majority verdict.
A majority verdict means at least ten. One member of the jury withdrew from the deliberations some time ago, when she became unwell.
The trial is the longest in Irish criminal history. It began in January and the jury began deliberations on day 75. It is now day 86.
This evening at 4.30 pm the jury was asked by Judge Nolan if it could sit on until six pm, but the foreman said people had commitments. Asked if it could sit on Saturday, he said some members of the jury would be abroad. The judge then told the jury members he would see them again on Tuesday. The jury has been deliberating for more than 48 hours.
On Wednesday, the jury returned guilty verdicts against former Anglo executives Willie McAteer and John Bowe. Today the judge set July 25th next for a sentencing hearing and remanded the men on continuing bail.
Fitzpatrick, of Convent Lane, Portmarnock, Dublin; Casey (56), from Raheny, Dublin; Bowe (52) from Glasnevin, Dublin, and McAteer (65) of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co Tipperary, had all pleaded not guilty to conspiring together and with others to mislead investors by setting up a €7.2 billion circular transaction scheme between March 1st and September 30th, 2008, to bolster Anglo’s balance sheet.
The former ILP executives, Mr Fitzpatrick and Mr Casey, said they did not know how Anglo would treat in its books certain financial transactions entered into with Anglo in 2008. The prosecution has said they must have known.
McAteer was Anglo’s former finance director and Bowe was Anglo’s former head of capital markets.
