FitzPatrick family used London flat it rented to Anglo Irish

MEMBERS OF Sean FitzPatrick’s family were permitted to stay in the London apartment that Anglo Irish Bank rented from his close family members under the rental agreement with the bank.

Anglo Irish disclosed in its annual report last month that close family members of Mr FitzPatrick, the bank’s former chairman, received €31,500 in rent from the bank in the year to September 2008, for the bank’s use of their apartment in London.

It is understood that under the terms of the rental agreement members of Mr FitzPatrick’s family could still stay in the apartment during the period that it was rented to the bank for staff working temporarily in the UK.

Anglo’s report said that the rent was paid “in respect of a UK property that, rather than hotels, is actively used to accommodate group employees working in the UK on a temporary basis”.

The use of the apartment by the bank was seen as a cost effective way of accommodating staff who were working in London for short periods of time.

Mr FitzPatrick’s close family members received rental income of €35,500 during the bank’s 2007 financial year, according to the annual report, and that the total future minimum payments under the tenancy agreement with the family members are €7,600.

A spokesman for the bank declined to comment on the rental agreement or the apartment beyond what has been disclosed in Anglo Irish’s annual report.

The rental income was outlined in the annual report under “related party disclosures”.

It’s understood that members of Mr FitzPatrick’s family stayed at the London property on an ad hoc basis.

It’s believed that bank staff staying in the apartment occasionally left the property to find alternative accommodation.

Mr FitzPatrick resigned as chairman of Anglo Irish last December after it emerged that he had concealed loans of up to €122 million over an eight-year period by using short-term borrowings from Irish Nationwide Building Society to move the loans temporarily off the bank’s books.

His loans from the building society totalled at least €228 million over the eight years, with his borrowings rising significantly in the years between 2005 and 2007.