The jury in the trial of four former bankers accused of conspiracy to defraud in 2008 has begun its deliberations.
Four former executives from Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Life & Permanent (ILP) are alleged to have conspired to mislead investors about the true health of Anglo.
On day 75 of what is now the longest-running trial in the State’s legal history, Judge Martin Nolan outlined the legal issues for the jury to consider in its deliberations.
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The 13 jurors remaining from 15 sworn in last January drew lots, after the judge’s instructions to decide which 12 would ultimately decide the case. Mr Nolan said he wanted to sincerely thank the excluded juror and that he was most impressed by the attentiveness of all the jurors during the trial.
“It’s cruel for you this new system was brought in for long trials. You’re free to go now and you must go now,” he said.
Circular transaction
Peter Fitzpatrick
(63), of Convent Lane, Portmarnock, Dublin;
Denis Casey
(56), from Raheny, Dublin;
John Bowe
(52), from Glasnevin, Dublin; and Willie McAteer (65), of Greenrath, Tipperary town, Co Tipperary, have all pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court 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 prosecution case is that the four men were involved in a setting up a circular scheme of €1 billion transactions where Anglo lent money to ILP and ILP sent the money back, via its 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.
The €7.2 billion deposit was later accounted for in Anglo’s preliminary results on December 3rd, 2008, as part of Anglo’s customer deposits figure. The prosecution says the entire objective of the scheme was to mislead the public reading Anglo’s accounts by artificially inflating the customer deposits number from €44 billion to €51 billion, a 16 per cent difference.
In his charge, Mr Nolan told the jurors: “Before you can convict these four men of anything you must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the scheme and the way it was accounted for accounted for . . . is a dishonest scheme.”
He said if they could not not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt this was a dishonest scheme, they had to acquit all four.
Character
He said once satisfied that the scheme was dishonest, they must then be satisfied the four defendants authorised or were involved in executing the scheme, and that, at the time, they intended the €7.2 billion would be accounted in Anglo’s accounts with no explanatory note.
In a charge that lasted a little over two hours, Mr Nolan said Anglo's former chief executive David Drumm was the dominant character who was driving the scheme. He said Mr Drumm was taking huge steps to ensure the survival of Anglo and that the financial regulator wasn't inactive either.
Mr Nolan said the regulator could not condone criminal behaviour and could not give a defence to any party.
He said that the treasury departments – which are responsible for bringing in funding into a bank to ensure it’s liquidity – were “out there scratching everyday to make ends meet”.
He said the defence had presented their clients as good, decent men who had tried to do their best for their company and for the Irish financial system. The jury had to decide whether in doing so they had committed a crime.
The judge agreed none of the defendants were involved for personal profit but he said that didn’t mean they hadn’t committed a crime.
