EXECUTIVES STOOD IN SILENCE TO HEAR THEIR FATE
ON Friday July 29 2016 — almost eight years after these events and after the longest trial in Irish criminal history — the three main players in this saga became the first senior bankers to be jailed in Ireland in the modern era.
Willie McAteer (65) of Tipperary town, former group finance director at Anglo Irish Bank, was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison by Judge Martin Nolan for conspiracy to mislead investors and depositors in Anglo Irish Bank. Denis Casey (56) of Raheny, Dublin, former chief executive of Irish Life and Permanent, was sentenced to two years and nine months. John Bowe (52), of Glasnevin, Dublin, of the Capital Markets division at Anglo Irish Bank, was sentenced to two years.
A fourth defendant, Peter Fitzpatrick (63) of Portmarnock, Dublin, a finance director of Irish Life and Permanent, was found not guilty of the same charges.
Judge Nolan took into account the chaotic nature of 2008, the dysfunction in the capital markets and the stress involved for those trying to ensure the survival of the financial institutions.
“But this was a conspiracy to defraud two blue-chip companies by manipulating the accounts of Anglo Irish Bank.
“Manufacturing €7.2bn in deposits was a sham,” he said. “The public is entitled to rely on the probity of blue-chip banks, if we can’t do that we will lose public confidence in our financial institutions. Honesty and integrity were sorely lacking.”
He castigated accountancy firm Ernst & Young for signing off on the accounts of Anglo Irish Bank in October, 2008. He said it “beggars belief ” and was “incomprehensible” that they didn’t know what had happened, adding it was “wilful blindness”.
Recognising that the transaction “did not cause the financial collapse” and none of those involved benefited financially, he said it was, nevertheless “extremely wrong” and he had no choice but to impose a custodial sentence on those involved.
Each of the three bankers stood in turn to hear their sentence, making no comment.
There was almost utter silence after the sentences were delivered and families filed quickly from the courtroom to gather in little knots outside talking to their legal representatives.