Drumm isolated as repetitive prosecution narrative emerged

David Drumm cut an often lonely figure as he wheeled his black suitcase into Court 19 each day. None of his family or friends was present in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court as he sat in the highly-polished dock for 81 long days.

The 51-year-old former bank chief executive listened intently and took copious notes as 49 prosecution witnesses told of the €7.2 billion circular transactions between the bank and Irish Life and Permanent (ILP) in September 2008.

It was this alleged conspiracy, among other charges, that led to the arrest by US federal agents in Massachusetts in October 2015 of the ex-banker, who was repeatedly referred to as "Drummer" in telephone calls heard during the trial.

Before the Easter holidays, his lawyers sought a relaxation of his bail conditions, despite prosecution objections. However, Judge Karen O’Connor granted it, saying he had been extremely punctual throughout. Drumm allowed himself a rare smile.

Five months earlier, 10 men and five women of the enlarged jury had turned up for selection on a freezing day in January to embark on a task that was not to prove an easy one, as the judge said as she bade them farewell.

One afternoon, during particularly turgid evidence, a small stress ball fell from the hands of a jury member, landing with soft thud. The jury-minder scooped it up and placed it on a stainless steel ledge with a wry smile. Concentration resumed.

Very early on, a note was handed to the judge by the forewoman. A juror had a problem serving because she had a connection with a potential witness. Replying, the judge said she was going to release her and make her the happiest woman in court.

The juror replied that she was disappointed. Polite laughter reverberated around the room from members of the legal teams, who knew exactly what an intense few months lay ahead for all those who had to stay on.

Life outside court occasionally intruded; a few days’ illness, or a long-planned family wedding. Otherwise they took their seats each day, becoming increasingly fluent in the language of the trading floor.

Detectives

At the rear of the court National Economic Crime Bureau detectives, headed up by Det Michael McKenna, kept a watchful eye, closely monitoring the fruits of years of investigation into Anglo and ILP. In a nearby exhibit room lay gargantuan quantities of paperwork.

Occasionally, a troop of school children would trudge into court and take their seats in the public gallery to experience the excitement of a live trial. More often than not they departed shortly after arriving.

Older members of the public were less likely to turn up. One who did muttered that he could not understand why people had not come to hear the facts for themselves, “such was the level of anger at Drumm and his friends back in the bad times”.

Inevitably, there were days when legal arguments took place without the presence of the jury. On occasion, court 19 resembled Lanigan's Ball – when the jury was often asked to leave just minutes after they had taken their seats.

The judge laid down markers early on. Just an hour into the trial, defence barrister Tessa White read aloud Drumm's admissions, accepting that the multibillion-euro transactions had taken place, but denying that they were fraudulent or dishonest.

Prosecutor Paul O’Higgins SC interrupted, abruptly asking for the jury to be momentarily excused. The Drumm admissions, he said, sounded like an unsworn statement, one that needed to be shared with the prosecution.

Reflecting the opening-day tensions, Brendan Grehan SC said he was “appalled that O’Higgins was interrupting Ms White by speaking to his colleagues in stage whispers at a critical point in Drumm’s defence.”

“Interrupting each other in front of the jury is not something I am going to allow happen during this trial, I am telling you two gentlemen that now,” the judge said, adding that she was determined that courtesy would prevail.

Substantial admissions

Following lunch, Mr O’Higgins apologised. Peace was restored, and the defendant had taken the unusual step of making substantial admissions which would reduce both the length of the trial and the complexity of the evidence.

Witness testimony could now begin.

Over the next 15 weeks a palpable sense of the panic and fear that existed as the global financial world imploded in 2008 and the effect it had on top Irish banking executives entered the courtroom.

Witnesses from Anglo, ILP, Irish Life Assurance, Irish Life Investment Managers, AIB, the Central Bank, Goodbody stockbrokers, NCB stockbrokers and BDO accountants queued up to give testimony.

Drumm, the jury were told, allegedly conspired with John Bowe, Willie McAteer, Denis Casey and others to defraud depositors and investors at Anglo by dishonestly creating the impression that deposits were €7.2 billion larger than they were in September 2008.

Former Anglo bankers John Bowe and Willie McAteer and former ILP chief executive Denis Casey were convicted of the same charge after an 89-day trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in June 2016 and were subsequently jailed. A fourth man tried alongside them, Peter Fitzpatrick, former chief financial officer at ILP, was acquitted.

Drumm, the State said, had also falsely reported this information to the market by way of publication of Anglo’s preliminary end-of-year accounts in December 2008. Not so, said Drumm’s lawyers, entering a not-guilty plea on both charges.

Prosecution narrative

Emotive language was often used by those on the stand as they recalled the gloom of 2007 and 2008, which began with run on Northern Rock and was followed by the jolt that was the collapse of Bear Sterns.

Very quickly, a clear and often repetitive prosecution narrative began to emerge. Drumm, it said, was the man who called the shots at Anglo, the one who authorised lightning-speed transactions between Anglo and ILP.

Soon, the jurors learned that customer deposits are always preferable to interbank loans when a potential investor is studying a bank’s balance sheet. The ILP deposits created the illusion that customer deposits were flowing in.

Such deposits boosted Anglo’s profile and made it look more financially sound than it was when Anglo published its preliminary accounts in December 2008 – the action that led to Drumm’s trial.

Anglo was particularly exposed because it depended on commercial deposits. Recorded telephone calls between bankers at Anglo and ILP in which promises were exchanged to help each other out.

The scene was now set. For four or five hours each day, the court travelled back to 2008 courtesy of the testimony of 49 prosecution witnesses. The defence, in contrast, called upon nobody to tell David Drumm’s side of the story.