A DECISION may be made within weeks to bring charges against individuals arising out of the three-year investigation into Anglo Irish Bank, the High Court was told yesterday.
Lawyers for the Director of Public Prosecutions said it was reviewing its position not to decide on whether to charge until all investigations had been finished.
There may be one or two strands of the investigation where an isolated decision can be taken to charge or not, Una Ní Raifeartaigh SC, for the DPP, said.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly said he was “glad” to hear that the DPP would soon consider whether to bring charges or not.
The judge said he was “taken aback” to hear that just 11 gardaí were working for the Office of the Director Corporate Enforcement, with eight officials on the largest and most serious investigation in the State’s history.
The number of gardaí involved seemed extraordinary in the context of the investigation, he said, but noted that the ODCE felt it was sufficient for the investigation to proceed at “reasonable” speed.
The investigation, while hugely complex and dealing with a wide variety of criminal offences never considered before, seemed to be taking “a very, very long time”.
The office’s investigation into Anglo is focused on five issues:
- the €451 million loans to the ‘Maple 10’ customers to buy a 10 per cent stake in Anglo from Seán Quinn to prop up the share price;
- transactions with directors, including Seán FitzPatrick;
- the bank’s failure to maintain a register of directors’ loans;
- the bank’s €8 million loan to former finance director Willie McAteer in September 2008; and
- whether the bank published false or misleading reports.
The Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation is examining:
- the back-to-back deposits between Anglo and Irish Life and Permanent which made Anglo look healthier than it was; and
- the loans to the Maple 10.
A Garda spokesman said there were 15 officers working exclusively on the GBFI’s investigation in addition to gardaí at the ODCE.
In court Mr Justice Kelly granted an eighth extension allowing the ODCE to retain documents and electronic records until July 24th. The records were seized in a Garda raid of Anglo in February 2009.
The office has sent 150 files to the DPP and its probe is essentially complete in two areas – Mr McAteer’s loan and the directors’ loan register – though the court was told lawyers may advise the DPP to seek further evidence.
The investigation into the three remaining issues is “substantially complete”. The judge said this was almost meaningless as he was told of “substantial progress” several times in the last three years which gave a misleading view of a state of investigation not in fact reached.
The reasons for the delay in completing all five issues included the reluctance of key witnesses to make statements and addressing issues raised by their lawyers.
Supt Eamon Keogh, who is seconded to the ODCE, said in an affidavit the probe into the Maple 10 loans required “minor” work to be completed. A file was sent to the DPP last Friday on transactions by Anglo directors and the suspected passing of false or misleading information by Anglo’s officers to the bank’s auditors, Ernst and Young.
Further work is required due to the unexpected length of engagement with “reluctant” witnesses.
Following the ODCE’s use of the Criminal Justice Act 2011 to compel Maple 10 investor Gerry Conlan to hand over information, work with 15 other “reluctant” witnesses had been concluded. Statements were awaited from two others and a further two, who are both abroad, had yet to commit to provide statements.
The fifth probe into whether Anglo published false reports that breached the EU Transparency Directive had to await the four other strands to be completed.
