Judge to hear closing statements in Drumm trial in US

A US judge will today hear closing statements in the bankruptcy trial of former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm to decide whether he should be discharged from bankruptcy and given a clean financial start. Judge Frank Bailey will listen to statements from lawyers for the former Anglo Irish Bank, now Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, and from Mr Drumm's own legal team at the conclusion of his trial in the Massachusetts bankruptcy court in Boston.

The bank, which is owed €8.5 million by Mr Drumm, and the court-appointed trustee overseeing his bankruptcy are seeking to block his discharge from bankruptcy, claiming that he defrauded creditors by transferring about €2 million in cash and property to his wife and that he lied on his bankruptcy statements by failing to disclose those asset transfers.

Mr Drumm has argued his wife wanted money of her own when the financial crisis struck in 2008 while he was chief executive of Anglo, and the omissions in his financial statements filed in the bankruptcy court in October 2010 were honest and unintentional mistakes by him and his professional advisers.

The court sat for five days last month hearing evidence from six witnesses, including Mr Drumm, who was in the witness box for two days, and his wife, Lorraine Drumm.

Judge Bailey is not expected to deliver his ruling in the case for several months.