A former chief executive of National Irish Bank (NIB) is among those against whom adverse findings are made in the long-awaited High Court inspectors' report into the bank.
Mr Barry Seymour, who was NIB chief executive from April 1994 to July 1996, was represented at a High Court hearing yesterday where Mr Justice Kelly confirmed that Mr Seymour was one of the people against whom adverse findings were made
He further confirmed that adverse findings had been made against Mr Patrick Byrne, a former head of finance, who was also represented in court.
The court also heard that Ms Beverley Flynn TD was the subject of adverse findings in an earlier draft of the report. Whether the findings ended up in the final report was not stated during the hearing.
Lawyers representing Ms Beverley Flynn, Mr Seymour and Mr Byrne sought advance copies of the confidential report, which may be published later this month. The judge is to rule on applications from them and others tomorrow.
The report was presented to the court on July 12th and only the judge and the Director of Corporate Enforcement, Mr Paul Appleby, have been given copies. The inspectors, accountant Mr Tom Grace and former Supreme Court judge Mr John Blayney were charged with examining customer overcharging by NIB and the sale of investment products which were in many cases used to evade tax.
Mr Appleby told the court he believed that copies should be given to the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Revenue Commissioners and various regulatory authorities in Ireland, Britain, the US, New Zealand and Australia. NIB is owned by National Australia Bank.
Mr Brian Murray SC, for Mr Appleby, said the report should also go to another party whom he did not wish to name in open court in consideration of the report's continuing confidentiality.
Ms Flynn, a former investment adviser with NIB, was expelled from Fianna Fáil after she failed in a libel action against RTÉ which centred on whether she had encouraged people to evade tax when they took out bonds marketed by NIB.
Yesterday at the Mahon tribunal Ms Flynn was accused of having "selective amnesia" about funds she handled on behalf of her parents.
However, Ms Flynn said she simply did not recall the details of transactions made on her parents' investments. Ms Patricia Dillon SC, for the tribunal, said Ms Flynn invested around £68,000 on behalf of her parents between 1989 and 1993 but was unable to recollect associated details.
Ms Flynn said she thought she had recollected quite a lot about her parents' affairs. Ms Dillon said it "depends on where you're sitting".
