I'm just a normal Irish citizen who follows the news and who has seen the disastrous impact that the activities (some of which have now been confirmed as being illegal) have had on the Irish State.
So the current trial of 3 gentlemen from Anglo was of interest to me. Thus far nobody from Anglo has gone to jail.
On Thursday last, Sean FitzPatrick was found not guilty of the charges which were brought against him. Afterwards he thanked his family, his legal team (for obvious reasons!) and the jury.
He had the temerity to mention "the past six years of great personal difficultly"! I find that unbelievable! The bank that he ran for so long, and of which he was the Chairman at the time of these particular illegal activities, brought this country to his knees through its own actions, and the impact its actions had on other elements of the banking sector. He played an important role in wrecking the lives of so many people who lost jobs or found themselves to be living in negative equity. And he complained of his "great personal difficultly"!
How some people can be so self-centred, and have so little remorse, will always be a complete mystery to me.
I am hopeful, of course, that other criminal proceedings will have a different outcome for Mr FitzPatrick.
The other 2 gentlemen who were facing charges were not so fortunate: Pat Whelan and William McAteer were found guilty of giving illegal loans to the "Maple 10" to buy shares in the bank. They will be sentenced on April 28th.The charges, under section 60 of the Companies Act, carry a penalty of up to five years in prison and/or a fine of up to €30,000 per offence.
I look forward to that date with interest to see if we will finally see someone behind bars for the criminal activities of this rogue bank.
The three gentlemen are pictured here:
