Whelan accused over loan letter alterations

Fraudulent loan letters reduced the personal recourse of some borrowers from 25 per cent to zero, the prosecution told jurors yesterday.

Seven of the 23 charges in the Anglo Irish Bank trial relate solely to former managing director of lending Pat Whelan of Malahide, Co Dublin.

Mr Whelan has pleaded not guilty to being privy to the fraudulent alteration of loan facility letters for seven individuals in October 2008.

The prosecution will argue that Mr Whelan, in conjunction with former chief executive David Drumm, "concocted" letters relating to July 2008 loans to some of the Maple 10 so there would be no personal recourse to the borrowers, counsel Paul O'Higgins said.

There “may be a suggestion they were not meant to be sent out”, Mr O’Higgins said.

In a case where €450 million was lent this would mean the borrowers would be excused €112 million and the bank would lose €112 million, he said.

The charges relate to the insertion of a date of July 17th, 2008, in the letters and varying terms and conditions to make them more favourable to the borrowers and less favourable to Anglo.

The bank had given loans to the Maple 10 to allow them to buy the company’s shares.