Back to hum Drumm as fraudster signs on
Arriving in style: Bad banker checking in with gardaí as ordered
FORMER Anglo boss David Drumm signed on in Balbriggan Garda Station for the first time yesterday, arriving in a 6 series BMW that cost over €100,000.
Drumm, once one of the most powerful businessmen in Ireland, has to sign on at the Garda station to prove that he is still in the country after he was convicted of a €7.2billion fraud on Wednesday.
While the Garda station is more commonly used by those signing bail for crimes such as theft, drug possession and assault, Drumm’s is likely the first for multibillion euro fraud, the largest ever in the State. It’s not known if the car used by Drumm is his own.
Drumm was coming from his three-storey townhouse in Skerries, where a BMW jeep was also parked outside the door.
A second-hand car similar to this luxury 2014 BMW model is advertised for close to €50,000 online.
The former Anglo banker will have to sign at the Garda station every day until his sentencing which is due on June 20.
He was dressed in a blue business jacket, white shirt and blue jeans for the five-minute sign-on.
A Dublin jury convicted Drumm on Wednesday of conspiracy to commit fraud and submitting fraudulent accounts. He declined to speak to the media as he left.
His wife was not with him as one of their children had a graduation ceremony in the US.
Despite being one of the key figures behind the fall of Anglo Irish Bank, he still lived the good life in the US for the better part of a dec- ade afterwards.
In the US, he lived in a lavish mansion in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where in 2008, according to court documents, he spent €275,000 on furniture, carpets and window treatments.
He also had an Irish pub set up in his basement.
As he was attempting to keep a low profile, Drumm refused to answer the door – which led to a memorable exchange where Drumm shouted through the closed door at RTÉ correspondent, Charlie Bird: ‘Have a bit of respect, will you? I’ve got my family here in the house. Charlie, leave now.’ Shortly after the incident, Drumm moved himself and his family to the exclusive neighbourhood of Wellesley, a suburb of Boston, where they rented a home.
They would eventually buy a house in the same area for €2.3million.
His two daughters were enrolled in a Catholic private school, called Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, which is routinely ranked as one of the most expensive schools in the US. For the 2018 to 2019 academic year their tuition cost is $49,560 (€42,000).
Later in 2015, Drumm was arrested outside his Wellesley home by US Marshalls, before fighting extradition to Ireland to face trial.
He spent five months in custody before he ended his extradition challenge and returned to Ireland Job done: Drumm drives off in a €100k BMW 6 Series in March 2016.
He is now likely facing a prison sentence and is said to be making the most of his time with friends and family before his sentencing date later this month.
At Anglo, he notoriously was the mastermind of a €7.2billion circular scheme in which a sum of €1milion money was transferred from Irish Life insurance company and sent back again repeatedly to give the impression that Anglo still had large numbers of customer deposits in 2008 – just as the bank was about to crash.
ronan.smyth@dailymail.ie
‘He has to sign on every day’