Inquiry into Anglo almost complete, says watchdog

THE OFFICE of the Director of Corporate Enforcement’s investigation into Anglo Irish Bank is “almost complete” and some important remaining matters will be finalised in the coming weeks, director Paul Appleby has said.

Nine files from the watchdog’s three-year investigation into Anglo have been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions, including three investigative files in the first quarter of this year.

Mr Appleby said that it was up to the DPP to decide if any of the “extensive files” warranted prosecution and that his staff were available to address any of her queries.

“Every consideration will also be given to fulfilling any future DPP requests which may be made for additional evidential materials,” he said at the launch of the watchdog’s annual report for 2011.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said the Garda Commissioner had confirmed the Garda investigation was “substantially complete” and that gardaí were working closely with the DPP.

“I share the sense of frustration at the length of time which investigations of this kind can take, but what is important now is that nothing be said which would in any way risk the possibility of prejudicing any criminal proceedings which might arise,” he said. The enforcement office has investigated five areas at Anglo:

* loans given by Anglo to buy its shares, in July 2008 in particular;

* the refinancing of directors’ loans over the end of Anglo’s financial year for several years;

* a loan to an Anglo director close to Anglo’s year-end in September 2008;

* the suspected failure by Anglo to keep a proper register of loans to directors and connected persons for several years; and

* the content of Anglo’s public statements about its financial position, particularly during 2008.

The Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation is examining back-to-back deposits between Anglo and Irish Life and Permanent in September 2008, and the lending to the “Maple 10” customers to buy a stake in Anglo held by businessman Seán Quinn.

“There is no area where we have not sent a file to the DPP,” Mr Appleby told reporters.

The watchdog has sent an initial file about “the adequacy of Anglo’s financial and other statements in 2008”, but would carry out no further work on this part of the inquiry pending the DPP’s views.

Mr Appleby said he was aware of the public frustration about the time the investigation was taking.

“We have had our difficulties and frustrations as well in moving this forward. People just need to know that there was a huge amount of material which had to be evaluated. A large number of witnesses had to be interviewed. You will be aware from other instances that co-operation was not always forthcoming,” he said.

“The length of time this has taken is simply a factor of the requirement to undertake the investigation to appropriate legal standards. If there is a prosecution in due course, there are going to be severe challenges, presumably; the standards of investigation have to be able to address and meet those challenges.”

The watchdog is getting “substantial co-operation” from more than 10 witnesses previously described as reluctant. “Statements have been obtained from the vast majority or [are] close to finalisation in one or two cases,” he said.

Mr Appleby added the investigation could have moved faster with more staff, but it would only have shaved a couple of months off.

“If we had double the staff on this investigation, it wouldn’t have been done in half the time. There would still be the same sort of issues that have cropped that have caused delays,” he said.

He did not think “expert jurors” would be required to hear any prosecution cases into Anglo, though it would be “a difficult series of cases” if the DPP was to prosecute.

Appleby’s exit contract clause

CORPORATE WATCHDOG Paul Appleby says his replacement should be obliged to give six months’ notice of his retirement or resignation and not the one month stipulated in his contract.

Mr Appleby was commenting on the controversy over his decision in January to retire giving the Government just a month to find a replacement when the Anglo probe had not been completed.

An individual had been identified to succeed him, he said.

Speaking at his final presentation of an Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) annual report after 10 years in the post, Mr Appleby said he would retire at the end of August after agreeing to stay on for six months.

He said he told the Minister for Enterprise Richard Bruton in January it was a good time for him to leave as the Anglo inquiry was “sufficiently advanced” and there would be “no damage” to the investigation due to his retirement.

The ODCE secured a custodial sentence against an individual last year for the first time in its 10-year history. It spent €3.4 million last year, a decrease of 7.5 per cent on the previous year.

The courts sanctioned 153 people, restricting or disqualifying most of them from acting as directors, over company law offences identified by the ODCE. SIMON CARSWELL