David Drumm bail hearing in Boston postponed

A bail hearing to decide whether former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm should be released has been postponed until October 26th.

His lawyer told a US court she needs more time to prepare arguments on why he should be released and to contact counsel in Ireland.

The hearing was due to take place on Friday at the US District Court in Boston where Mr Drumm appeared on Tuesday for the first time since his arrest on an extradition request last weekend.

Attorney Tracy Miner, representing the 48-year-old Dubliner, asked the court to postpone the bail hearing and agreed to his continued detention.

She told the court she “needs time to develop factual support for special circumstances warranting release, including information from counsel in Ireland”, according to a legal filing submitted in court.

Mr Drumm is wanted back in Ireland to face criminal charges relating to several transactions in the lead-up to the fall of Anglo.

The charges arise from a complaint made to the Garda by the Financial Regulator in February 2009 and a related investigation.

33 counts

He is charged with 33 counts including forgery, conspiracy to defraud, false accounting and breaches of Irish company law and EU law, in relation to the Maple 10 lending to buy shares scheme and the back-to-back deposits between Anglo and Irish Life & Permanent.

Ms Miner told Magistrate Judge Donald Cabell at Tuesday's hearing that Mr Drumm's case would be "a little bit more complicated" than regular extradition proceedings. She suggested the Irish authorities may have brought the legal action "for a political purpose".

‘Not a fait accompli’

She told the court she would be seeking his release on bail pending his hearing and that his detention, which the judge had said was a presumption in extradition cases, was “not a fait accompli”.

Assistant US attorney Amy Burkart told the judge that the US government, acting on behalf of the Irish State under an Irish-US extradition treaty, would seek Mr Drumm's continued detention.

She said the government would be arguing that Mr Drumm was a flight risk and there were no special circumstances warranting his release on bail pending proceedings in the extradition case.

Ms Miner said it would take her three to four months to prepare her client’s defence against the extradition request.

Mr Drumm has lived in the US since 2009. He moved to Massachusetts six months after resigning as chief executive of Anglo, and soon afterwards the bank was nationalised by the Irish government.