FitzPatrick freed after questioning about Anglo

PHOTOGRAPHERS – SOME of whom had stood in freezing temperatures all night – were rewarded with sight of a beaming Seán FitzPatrick as he left Bray Garda station on Saturday.

In contrast to images from his previous overnight in the Garda station, Mr FitzPatrick swung open the door of the station’s modern new annex and marched briskly to a waiting car.

Looking well and dressed in a dark blue crombie coat and a bright yellow scarf, he made for the car, easily dismissing a rapid onslaught of reporters.

“Mr FitzPatrick, Mr FitzPatrick, do you have anything to say to the Irish people - Mr FitzPatrick, have you anything to say?” reporters asked as they scurried forward.

Mr FitzPatrick appeared to burst out laughing. Hopping into the car he leaned his elbow on the bottom of the window, placed his hand on the roof handle obscuring his face, and the car surged swiftly through the entrance.

Mr FitzPatrick was arrested on Friday morning under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act in relation to alleged financial irregularities at the former Anglo Irish Bank. It was the second time the former chairman and chief executive of the failed bank had been arrested and detained overnight at the station. The first was in March last year.

Mr FitzPatrick had gone to the station by arrangement with gardaí and investigators from the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement Paul Appleby, and was arrested there at about 8am on Friday.

The Irish Timesunderstands the gardaí and the corporate enforcement agency were seeking Mr FitzPatrick's co-operation in three specific aspects of their investigation into affairs at the bank.

These included the concealment of loans owing by him which were transferred off the books of Anglo using short-term loans from Irish Nationwide Building Society over an eight-year period.

They also included lodgments amounting to €7.45 billion in short-term deposits by Irish Life and Permanent into Mr FitzPatrick’s bank.

The authorities are also interested in matters relating to the so-called “golden circle” share transaction in which 10 long-standing clients of the bank bought a 10 per cent stake in the bank – using loans from the bank itself.

The Garda said a file was being prepared for the DPP.