Complaint filed with gardai over Anglo executives

Three anti-austerity campaigners have filed a formal complaint with gardai over the behaviour of former senior Anglo Irish Bank executives.

Donegal Action Against Austerity members; Philip McFadden, Margo McGrory and Joe Murphy, filed the complaint at Buncrana Garda station in Co Donegal last night.

Mr McFadden said they had asked gardaí to charge John Bowe, Peter Fitzgerald and David Drum under the Criminal Justice and Theft and Fraud Offences Act 2001, Sections 6, 10, 11, 42, for "defrauding the Irish people of €7 billion".

Section 6 of the Act relates to making a gain or causing loss by deception. Section 10 relates to false accounting, Section 11 covers the suppression of documents while section 42 relates to fraud affecting EU financial reporting.

Mr McFadden said: “Somebody has to take a stand and we are hoping that people across the country will do the same as we have and report these people to their local Garda station.”

Mr McFadden alleged that the executives had committed crimes. “We as citizens have an obligation to report them.”

Joe Murphy, who was among a group of people who walked from Malin Head to Dublin to protest at Government austerity measures, said gardai at Buncrana had registered their complaint.

He added: “We are hoping that other people will come forward across the country and make similar complaints.”

The three Anglo executives have featured heavily in leaked phone recordings of conversations held by bank staff in 2008, around the time the government bank guarantee was introduced.

They can be heard on the tapes talking about their strategy to get bailed out - and then get jobs in a nationalised bank.