Jury sent home for night in ex-Anglo chief David Drumm’s trial

The jury in the trial of former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm has been sent home for the night after beginning deliberations on charges of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting.

Judge Karen O’Connor on Tuesday concluded her charge to the 10 men and four women of the enlarged jury panel, who have sat through one of the longest running trials in the history of the State, which is now in its 81st day.

The judge referred to the “bad language” used in recorded phone calls played during the trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court and said the people concerned were clearly going through a stressful time and were under a lot of pressure.

Judge O’Connor said she required a unanimous verdict in relation to both counts against Mr Drumm.

“However, you must consider each count separately and can acquit or convict on either or both,” she said.

It is the State's case that Mr Drumm conspired with Irish Life & Permanent's (ILP) former chief executive Denis Casey, Anglo's former financial director Willie McAteer, Anglo's former head of treasury John Bowe and others to carry out €7.2 billion in fraudulent transactions in order to bolster the customer deposits figure on the bank's balance sheet.

On the opening day of his trial in February, Mr Drumm’s lawyers told the jury that he accepts that the multi-million euro transactions took place between Anglo and ILP in 2008 but he disputed that they were fraudulent or dishonest.

Removed

On completion of her charge, the judge said she was required under the Juries Act 1976 to remove two jurors from the panel, which she said she was not looking forward to doing.

She explained that in trials with an expected duration of more than two months, 15 jurors are empannelled to cater for drop outs, which could otherwise cause a trial to collapse.

The registrar randomly selected 12 names from a drum, leaving a finalised jury of nine men and three women.

Judge O’Connor told the two departing jurors she was “very happily and gladly” excusing them from jury service for life.

She said their commitment to civic duty and public service had been extraordinary.

Mr Drumm (51), of Skerries, Co Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with Mr Casey, Mr McAteer, Mr Bowe and others to defraud depositors and investors at Anglo by “dishonestly” creating the impression that deposits in 2008 were €7.2 billion larger than they were.

He has also pleaded not guilty to false accounting on December 3rd, 2008, by furnishing information to the market that Anglo’s 2008 deposits were €7.2 billion larger than they were.

The jury will return on Wednesday at 2pm to continue their deliberations and were warned not to engage in any research or discussion of the case overnight.