Judge Martin Nolan will sentence the three former banking executives convicted of taking part in a €7 billion fraud on Friday.

The sentence hearing for the three took place on Monday at the Circuit Criminal Court in Dublin.

Character witnesses for the three men, John Bowe and Willie McAteer, formerly of Anglo, and Denis Casey, of Irish Life and Permanent, outlined the positive characteristics of the defendants to Judge Nolan.

John Fearon, a brother in law of Mr Bowe, described him as a good husband and father who had worked for charity Sunshine House and the Merchant’s Quay project.

Patrick O’Shea said his friend, Mr McAteer, whom he had known since 1973, lived modestly in Tipperary with his wife and he was conscious of the reputational loss he had suffered. He also spoke of the good work of Mr McAteer’s wife, looking after people in disadvantaged areas.

Denis Hevey described Mr Casey as ethical, with “the height of integrity” and a man who “gave of his time quite generously”.

Last June, a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court convicted former Anglo Irish Bank executives Mr Bowe (52) and Mr McAteer (65), and the former Group Chief Executive of Irish Life and Permanent plc. (ILP), Mr Casey (56) of conspiring to make Anglo's books look €7.2 billion healthier than they actually were.

The three men were involved in setting up a circular scheme of billion euro transactions where Anglo moved money to ILP and ILP sent the money back, via their assurance firm Irish Life Assurance, to Anglo.

The scheme was designed so that the deposits came from the assurance company and would be treated as customer deposits, which are considered a better measure of a bank’s strength than inter-bank loans.