Central Bank says ‘no new criminal issues’ in Anglo tapes

The Central Bank has said it will not take any further legal action arising from tapes released of conversations between former executives at Anglo Irish Bank.

In a statement, the Central Bank said the tapes raised concerns that Anglo may have deliberately misrepresented its financial position when it sought financial support from the Central Bank in 2008.

“The Central Bank has examined Anglo’s interaction with the Central Bank at the time in relation to this matter. No new issues have been identified that relate to suspected criminal offences having occurred and as a result, the Central Bank does not intend, and is not required, to make any further statutory reports of suspected criminal offences,” it said.

In June the Central Bank said it would liaise with police after studying transcripts of conversations between the executives in 2008.

Recordings indicated the lender planned to seek an initial €7 billion from the Central Bank because a commitment of that size would make the authorities unwilling to let it fail, while not being too big to cause the central bank to hesitate in backing the bank. The executives denied any wrong doing.

The revelations that were contained in the recordings of telephone conversations between senior Anglo Irish executives in 2008 have generated widespread national debate and given new impetus to efforts to establish a banking inquiry.

In the recordings, published by the Irish Independent, Anglo Irish Bank executives were ordered to go down to the Central Bank with “arms swinging” to demand a multi-billion euro bailout to prevent a bank collapse.