Lenihan not asked to alter loan terms for FitzPatrick

MINISTER for Finance Brian Lenihan has not been made aware of any changes to the interest conditions on loans at Anglo Irish Bank to former chairman Seán FitzPatrick.

Matters that would need to be notified to the Minister would include a failure to pay interest under loan agreements Mr FitzPatrick has with Anglo.

It was reported yesterday that the former chairman had defaulted on loans of more than €100 million with the bank by not paying interest, said to be €400,000 per month, on them.

Speaking in Gothenburg yesterday where he was attending a meeting of EU finance ministers, Mr Lenihan said the rules that prevent Anglo Irish Bank from divulging customer information applied to him as well.

“However, I do have a strategic framework agreement with the Anglo Irish Bank and any issue in relation to Mr FitzPatrick would have to be sanctioned by me,” he said.

A spokesman for Mr Lenihan confirmed the Ministers approval “has not been sought to alter the terms of conditions of any loans to directors or former directors of Anglo Irish Bank”.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen said yesterday that Mr FitzPatrick would be fully pursued in relation to the repayments of his personal loans from the bank. “That issue will be dealt with and will be pursued like all the other issues [affecting the bank],” Mr Cowen said yesterday.

Opposition leaders had earlier called on Mr Lenihan to confirm “commitments” that Anglo directors would be pursued to pay back their loans in full.

It is believed that Mr FitzPatrick reached a new agreement with Anglo last January in relation to his loans with the bank. This agreement, which is thought to include specific provisions about the servicing of the loans, remains in place.

Mr FitzPatrick, who resigned from the chairmanship at Anglo last December, did not comment yesterday. It is thought, however, that he is not in default on his loans according to the terms of the January deal. Anglo refused to comment on the matter yesterday.

Mr Lenihan said yesterday he had made it clear that he expected whatever loans were owed by former directors will have to be repaid “to the last cent”. He said he was aware that Anglo’s new chief executive Mike Aynsley was most anxious to ensure that all outstanding liabilities of senior staff were discharged.

The Minister has repeatedly expressed an eagerness to see action taken against anybody involved in criminal wrongdoing at the bank before it was nationalised earlier this year. To date, a Garda investigation has collected several hundred statements on the issues that arose in Anglo Irish Bank but Mr FitzPatrick is not among those interviewed to date.

The investigation moved on this week when officers from the Office for the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) entered Anglo’s headquarters on Wednesday to examine a batch of electronic data. A spokeswoman for Anglo said the bank was working with the ODCE to assist the office’s investigation.