Sir, – Am I alone in being shocked at the short jail sentences handed down last Friday to the three bankers convicted for conceiving and carrying out the biggest fraud in the history of this State?
A maximum sentence of 3½ years for a fraud involving €7.20 billion hardly seems appropriate.
Later last Friday afternoon I heard a report on the radio about an individual who sold some non-existent cars, was convicted of fraud and received a jail sentence of four years.
The three bankers could have been sentenced to eight years in jail. They must have been enormously relieved to receive such short jail sentences.
– Yours, etc,
PHILIP GINNELL
Mullingar,
Co Westmeath.
Sir, – No doubt in certain quarters there is a degree of satisfaction at the sentences handed down in the case of window-dressing at the former Anglo bank.
However, surely ordinary citizens are entitled to expect the authorities to protect their interests, and be pro-active in preventing such events?
In this case, it would appear that officials at the Department of Finance, the Central Bank, and the regulator’s office apparently missed or adopted a Nelsonian approach [turning a blind eye] to this serious breach of the regulations.
This hardly seems an equitable outcome, and begs the question what happens next time? Given the recent poor European Banking Authority stress test results for AIB and the Bank of Ireland we can only hope senior officials in the institutions referred to above are now at least on “amber alert”.
– Yours, etc,
MIKE CORMACK,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.