IRISH LIFE Permanent (IL&P) chief executive Denis Casey, who resigned 10 days ago over the company’s controversial €7.45 billion deposits into Anglo Irish Bank, is leaving the company ahead of his scheduled departure.
Mr Casey had agreed to remain on as acting chief executive following his resignation on February 13th, but a spokesman for the company said yesterday that Mr Casey has since decided to leave IL&P earlier than planned.
The company said on the day of his resignation that he would remain for “a transition period to assist the board and the group which is beginning a process of identifying, recruiting and bedding in a suitable successor”.
The spokesman said the company’s chairwoman Gillian Bowler would oversee day-to-day management, assisted by IL&P’s new finance director David McCarthy and Kevin Murphy, chief executive of Irish Life, the company’s life assurance business.
Trade union Unite, which represents half of IL&P’s 5,000 employees, wrote to the company last week saying Ms Bowler and acting chief executive Mr Casey no longer retained the confidence of the workforce.
The company is close to appointing a consultant to examine how its board was “kept in the dark” about the transactions with Anglo Irish and other corporate governance risks, the company’s spokesman said yesterday.
It has also emerged that Ms Bowler offered her resignation to the IL&P board during the eight-hour meeting on February 12th to discuss the controversial deposits.
IL&P’s spokesman said the board declined her resignation.
“The board was firmly of the view that neither she or the board were aware of the transactions and that her resignation would not be appropriate,” he said.
The board also declined an offer of resignation from Mr Casey at this meeting. However, he bowed to growing pressure the following day and resigned his position.
A subcommittee of the board, led by Ms Bowler, has been created to find Mr Casey’s successor.
Margaret Hayes and Ray MacSharry, who were appointed by the Government to IL&P’s board under the guarantee, are on the subcommittee. Fellow director Liam O’Reilly, former chief executive of the Financial Regulator, is also on the subcommittee.
The Sunday Timesnamed four members of the so-called golden circle of 10 investors who bought 10 per cent of the bank last year to help support its share price. The Irish Timeswas unable to confirm yesterday whether the four named are indeed members of this group.
Eamon Ryan of the Green Party said the top 15 borrowers in Anglo Irish, who each owe more than €500 million, will be pursued to repay the debts in full.
Mr Ryan, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, told RTÉ's The Week in Politicsprogramme, that, failing repayment, any assets securing the loans would come under the control of the State.
