Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has said he believes the public is "very anxious" that work done in relation to wrongdoing in the banks should be properly prosecuted and dealt with by the legal system.
Mr Martin was responding to the public disclosure that former Anglo Irish Bank chief financial officer Matt Moran had been granted protection from prosecution by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Irish Times revealed the existence of the immunity agreement, reached between the DPP and Mr Moran about two years ago, in a story published yesterday.
Asked about the immunity deal, Mr Martin said the DPP was an independent office and he did not want to say anything that could jeopardise its work.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny said yesterday he could not comment on the decision of the DPP. "That office is entirely independent. They make their own decisions," Mr Kenny said when asked how he interpreted the decision to grant immunity to Mr Moran.
The DPP has declined to answer any question as to why the immunity deal has been granted. Mr Moran and his Dublin-based solicitor did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment. The immunity agreement was reached prior to charges being brought against three former directors of Anglo Irish Bank.
The three – former chairman Seán FitzPatrick, former finance director Willie McAteer and former head of Anglo's Irish business Pat Whelan – have been charged with providing unlawful financial assistance to 16 individuals to buy shares in the bank as part of the unwinding of the large investment in the bank held by businessman Seán Quinn. The transaction had the effect of propping up Anglo's share price as the financial crisis was deepening in 2008.
Mr Moran was the second most senior financial officer at Anglo behind Mr McAteer. He was appointed chief financial officer in 2004.
A key member of the Anglo senior management team led by chief executive David Drumm, Mr Moran was never a director of the board of the bank. As the banking crisis deteriorated, Mr Moran played a leading role in the bank's efforts to counteract the negative comments about Anglo within the financial community.
He remained on at the bank after its nationalisation in January 2009, taking on the role of director of group finance under a new chairman, Donal O'Connor, shortly afterwards. He left Anglo later that year. He has been working for a financial company called Lombard International Assurance in Luxembourg in recent years.
