Judge to rule on INBS manager's injunction

A High Court judge will rule today on an application to continue an injunction preventing the suspension of an Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS) manager who claims he is being scapegoated over loans to solicitors Michael Lynn and Thomas Byrne.

Mr Justice Frank Clarke will give judgment today on the injunction proceedings by Brian Fitzgibbon to stop his suspension and to stop what he has described as a "disciplinary" meeting involving him, which had been scheduled to take place on Monday last but which was restrained by an interim injunction.

The judge was earlier told that the society is disputing Mr Fitzgibbon's scapegoat claims. It says it is merely conducting a fact finding inquiry into his conduct, including his involvement in the approval of nearly €1.25 million in bonus payments to branch managers. The society disputes Mr Fitzgibbon's claims that the inquiry concerns loans only to Messrs Lynn and Byrne and says there are eight other anonymous people to whom loans were given and these are are also the subject of the investigation.

In an affidavit, INBS human resources manager Darragh Horan said Mr Fitzgibbon had been suspended because he had aborted a meeting called to discuss various matters concerning his conduct.

Mr Horan said he was holding an inquiry into serious matters concerning Mr Fitzgibbon's conduct relating to non-adherence to policies concerning commercial and residential loans, branch managers' bonus payments, Mr Fitzgibbon's own personal home loan with INBS and the approval of a mortgage to an unnamed party who is not a solicitor.

Mr Horan rejected Mr Fitzgibbon's assertions of unfair treatment and said there was no evidence of an attempt to scapegoat him. It was his intention to conduct an "open and fair investigation", Mr Horan said. He added that in order to ascertain all the facts, he had to have meetings with Mr Fitzgibbon who was refusing to co-operate and was therefore suspended on pay "by way of a holding operation pending inquiries."

Ercus Stewart SC, for INBS, said that if Mr Fitzgibbon had made himself available to Mr Horan for the investigation and had provided Mr Horan with all the claims he had made in a public affidavit, the investigation may have been completed by now.

Counsel said the interim injunction should be lifted to allow the investigation to proceed. He argued that damages in any future action would be an adequate remedy for Mr Fitzgibbon should he succeed in that action.

On claims by Mr Fitzgibbon that the society had leaked matters about him and Messrs Lynn and Byrne to the media, Mr Stewart said the INBS was not responsible for the leaks to the media and a colleague who had accompanied Mr Fitzgibbon to a previous meeting with his employers had remarked at the meeting that this was "one for the papers".

John Gordon SC, for Mr Fitzgibbon, said his client had no option but to take injunction proceedings to stop his suspension because no amount of damages would be able to compensate him for the damage done to his reputation.

The society had leaked a story to the media essentially blaming Mr Fitzgibbon for making €20 million loans to Messrs Byrne and Lynn, when, in reality, some of these loans were personally approved by INBS managing director Michael Fingleton, counsel said.

Had Mr Fitzgibbon not taken the injunction proceedings, he, given the leaks to the media, "might never get a job again", Mr Gordon said.

Mr Gordon said the entire investigation process undertaken by INBS into Mr Fitzgibbon was fundamentally flawed.

INBS had not adhered to its own disciplinary procedures including verbal, written and final warnings before conducting an investigation, he said.

There had been no suggestion of dishonesty or untrustworthiness against Mr Fitzgibbon, who had been forced out of frustration over the way his employers dealt with him to take the injunction proceedings.

The society had lit this "bonfire" under Mr Fitzgibbon's reputation in an attempt to find someone to blame for the loans to Mr Lynn and Mr Byrne, Mr Gordon said.