A senior businessman with a public profile in the Irish corporate sector has been arrested on suspicion of insider trading.
The man, aged in his 60s, was being questioned at a Garda station in South Dublin by detectives from the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB).
The bureau, formerly known as the fraud squad but now investigating a wider range of financial crimes, has been examining the insider trading allegations for some time after a report was made by the Central Bank of Ireland to the Garda.
In a statement, Garda headquarters confirmed that a man had been arrested for the alleged offence of “insider trading” contrary to European Union (Market Abuse) Regulations 2016.
“This investigation is one of a number of ongoing investigations for Market Abuse at the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau,” it said. “The extensive investigation carried out by GNECB has progressed with the assistance of personnel attached to the Central Bank of Ireland and their expertise and experience had been invaluable.”
While the statement did not provide further details on the nature of the matters under investigation, The Irish Times understands that the inquiry relates to the alleged use of information about a high profile company. This information was effectively protected or privileged and, therefore, could not be used to make trades on the stock market for a specified period.
However, it is alleged that when information was shared on this basis, it was then used to inform stock market transactions. Sources said a series of transactions, involving the sale and purchase of shares over a period of time, was under review.
The allegation at the centre of the inquiry is that protected information was used in an attempt to make financial gain, all based off the fluctuating price of shares of a listed company.
It is alleged that the protected information was used as a basis for the first stock transactions and that further transactions flowed from those deals. While it is alleged that a chain of transactions was effectively grounded in insider information, no findings of wrongdoing have been arrived to date and the investigation is ongoing.
The suspect arrested on Tuesday was being questioned at a Garda station in the south of the city. He was being detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, which allows for a suspect to be questioned about an alleged offence for up to 24 hours without charge.
