Senior finance staff not at Anglo meeting

DETAILS OF Anglo Irish Bank’s controversial presentation to the Department of Finance – 12 days before the September 2008 banking guarantee – have been published by the Public Accounts Committee.

Anglo told the department in a presentation on September 18th, 2008 that it had no requirement for external capital.

The department’s secretary general Kevin Cardiff told the committee in a letter that the National Treasury Management Agency and the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland had confirmed that none of their personnel were there.

“I have checked the department’s records, my personal notes and with the relevant agencies. I also asked Anglo Irish Bank to check its records and it has not found anything of relevance. If anyone from the department attended such a meeting, it would have most likely been myself,” Mr Cardiff said.

When he appeared before the committee on July 22nd, Mr Cardiff was asked about who attended the meeting of September 18th, 2008. Further information was requested from Mr Cardiff by the committee on August 6th.

He responded to the committee on October 13th and his letter and other documents were published yesterday.

He told the committee legally-privileged documents it requested, including letters from the department to the Attorney General, could not be disclosed by his department, “but we can still be helpful to the committee”.

Mr Cardiff said legal issues might arise in future in relation to the bank guarantee on the nationalisation of Anglo, “which are both live issues and may involve the giving of further legal advice”.

He explained that furnishing or discussing legal advice already given might prejudice the State’s legal position in dealing with such matters if they arose in the future.

However, he provided descriptions of the department’s letters and e-mails, “involved in as much detail as I feel able having regard to the constraints imposed by legal privilege”.

Mr Cardiff said this should allow the committee an insight into the work being carried on between the department and legal advisers. He said he was in contact with professional advisers who performed work for Irish institutions or authorities in the run-up to the introduction of the bank guarantee to seek their consent for release of materials produced by them.

“I now have consents from Goldman Sachs and PwC [PricewaterhouseCoopers] for the release of materials relating to their work,” he said. The documents were also published yesterday.

Consultancy fees paid by the department, the Financial Regulator and the treasury agency in connection with banking issues since 2008 were also published, including payments since Mr Cardiff appeared before the committee on July 22nd.

Total fees paid to consultants on the banking crisis were €35 million up to September 8th last – an increase from the €33.76 million revealed up to the end of July 2010 in the Comptroller and Auditor General annual report last month.