How the mighty have fallen in Ireland with the news that Sean FitzPatrick and two colleagues will stand trial for their actions during the collapse of Anglo-Irish Bank which almost bankrupted the Irish state along with it.
It is hard to imagine a jury of their peers having much sympathy with the men, especially FitzPatrick, who has become the poster child for bankers behaving badly.
The case concerns loans made to 10 businessmen at the height of the crisis which they used to buy bank shares in a desperate but failed attempt to keep the bank share price from collapsing.
The case will also involve the extraordinary actions around the billions spent by former billionaire, the now bankrupt Sean Quinn, who lost his fortune buying the bank stock just before it collapsed.
There will be a sigh of relief in many political circles in Ireland that a prosecution is at last going ahead, as there has been a widespread sense that the big fish were getting away with their alleged misdeeds and none were being held accountable.
In that respect FitzPatrick and his friends represent some of the iceberg, but not all. Future cases may come down to who knew what and when, as the bank entered its death spiral and a large group of insiders, including regulators and others, must have had strong inklings about what was about to happen.
How deep and wide a net the prosecutors eventually use will determine how many are ultimately charged.
The Irish people have a right to hear the full story of the most spectacular collapse of any bank of recent times in Europe, one which single-handedly inflamed the European crisis and dealt a death blow to the Celtic Tiger.
The ultimate cost to the Irish taxpayer was over $40 billion, an incredible sum given the total Irish annual tax take in recent years is in the region of $40 billion.
While FitzPatrick is the man who fell to earth after enjoying a charmed life, there are scores of others who must be trembling in their trousers with the news of the Anglo chief’s prosecution.
When we look back on that time in 2008/’09 there are more than enough bad actors to go around.
The men negotiating on Ireland's behalf with Europe were Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, who was dying with incurable cancer, and Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen, widely assailed for having a significant drinking problem and being disengaged.
It reads like a bad Irish joke, and in many ways it was. The rest of the Irish “A” team at the time also singularly failed to impress, with the result that Ireland now has a crushing burden of debt thanks to Seanie’s shenanigans and a governmental oversight of what he was really up that was actually laughable.
Except the hard-pressed Irish taxpayer is hardly laughing and faces very tough times for at least a decade as the country tries to get its finances back into good standing.
It all started with the rotten bank called Anglo, and it will be at least some consolation that the main actors will have to face the music. That, at least, can give some satisfaction.
7 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.seamus60 | Oct 21, 2012, 10:02 AM EDT
It`ll go no where past a slap on the wrist and a stern warning. Where has all the money gone ? Have to go to Wall Street and the rich banking families who manipulated the lot to find out. LOL
merefalow | Oct 12, 2012, 05:29 PM EDT
who do we owe all this money to,ANS the big capatilist banking institutions who set the exorbitent intrest rates,who manipulate the markets,who gamble with other peoples money,who get bailed out by the tax payers becauseTHEY ARE TO BIG TO FAIL,who allowed them to get to big,polititions who are on their boards of directors,the whole system is rotten and rigged.solution,dont repay the exorbitent sums,renage,what are they going to do,send in the bailifs,then the country prints its own currency,with no private banks ,or very limited controlled ones allowed.also shoot a few as a warning not to f... up the world,also this quantative easy,ie printing funny money,realy good for them,realy bad for us,leading to hyper inflation,just watch prices of everything escalate.
CaptainCon | Oct 12, 2012, 04:32 AM EDT
The man photographed used to like to give speeches railing on about the cost to Irish society of single mothers on welfare. What has he and his cronies cost Irish society? The figure of $38billion is mentioned in the article but the real cost can be found in closed hospital wards around the country, unemployment and children going without. If ever there was a justification for shooting someone for an Offence Against The State this man is it. You'd have to have a hell of a lot of people on welfare to get anywhere near what he and his friends have cost the state.
cillowen | Oct 11, 2012, 03:41 PM EDT
is this a joke - it just too hopeful to believe such nonsense
FastEddy | Oct 11, 2012, 11:46 AM EDT
Undercapitalized banks ... bankers playing risky hedging games with your deposits ... bankers floating unsecured mortgages in the name of social "justice" ... and this is all the g'ment prosecutors can come up with?
CaptainCon | Oct 11, 2012, 09:21 AM EDT
Well I wouldn't be too hasty to call 'justice' on this. Firstly I understand these current charges are under Irish Company Law which might as well mean 'canon law' for all the effect it has had over the years on dodgy Irish businessmen. Secondly the Maple 10 share support arrangement between Anglo officials and 10 insiders is actually a Market Abuse issue. Ireland is signed up to the European Market Abuse Directive which has heavy sanctions for those engaging in arranging false markets for shares. I suspect the Irish authorities (many of whom will be holding their breath rather than releasing it as Fitzpatrick knows who got what loans on the hurry-up and with dodgy paperwork around the Dublin 4 area) are trying to prosecute very, very gingerly and exclude the Maple 10 insiders from seeing the inside of a court as well in my opinion. The Irish authorities to my mind may be attempting to walk a very thin line between something politically explosive if Fitzpatrick starts talking and giving the impression that there is corporate governance in Ireland. European authorities can step in and I question why these are just Company Law offences Fitzpatrick is being charged with and why the other ten characters are not up on market abuse charges as well.
Portia777 | Oct 11, 2012, 09:05 AM EDT
never mess with the Sidhe. They always wait until you feel untouchable, then deliver justice.