Bank queried over Haughey debt

The board of AIB does not know if the "debt of honour" held by the late Charles J Haughey has been repaid.

The bank's chairman, Dermot Gleeson, and AIB group chief executive, Eugene Sheehy, were unable to confirm if the £110,000 debt had been discharged during questions at yesterday's AIB agm in Galway.

The meeting, in the Radisson Hotel, Galway, also heard that business in Poland is so strong that a new AIB branch is being opened there every 10 days.

The issue of Mr Haughey's debt of honour was raised by shareholder David Johnson, who asked if the bank had many "any attempt" to recover it from Mr Haughey's estate. Mr Gleeson said that he did not know, but would find out and write to Mr Johnson in relation to the matter.

Mr Johnson also pressed Mr Sheehy on the same issue, stating that it would be a "test" of how "aggressive" the new group chief executive would be in pursuing it. Mr Sheehy indicated that he did not have the information to hand.

"Disgust" at the bank's involvement in the Faldor offshore investment scheme was expressed by shareholder Dermot Carroll. Four former top management figures in AIB made tax settlements last year with the Revenue Commissioners for a total of €323,313 as a result of their dealings with the Faldor offshore investment scheme which was found to have breached tax law.

Mr Carroll said that there was a "yawning credibility gap" between statement and reality in relation to the bank's code of business ethics.

Mr Gleeson defended Mr Sheehy's integrity against criticism by shareholder and former AIB employee Niall Murphy.

Mr Murphy described Mr Sheehy as the "Dorian Gray of Irish banking" and a "puppet", whereas he had been held out as the "great white hope".

Mr Murphy asked questions relating to the reported €200 million error detected by the New York Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in AIB fillings in the USA, and the role of Robert Wilmers, chairman and chief executive of M&T Bank Corporation, as an AIB director.

During exchanges between Mr Gleeson and Mr Murphy, Mr Murphy reminded Mr Gleeson that it was a "shareholders' meeting and not a Nüremberg rally". Responding, Mr Gleeson told Mr Murphy that there were "no plans to hold an agm in Nüremberg".

The chairman said that Mr Wilmers was one of the "smartest bankers in the US", a "very valuable member" of the board and also a "very significant investor" in AIB.

In relation to the SEC filing, Mr Gleeson said that accountancy rules differed in Europe and the US and that there was an "error in translation". AIB group finance director John O'Donnell said that such "misclassification" was "extremely common" and the "majority of banks" made these errors.