Anglo Irish Bank probe in London and Dublin
Serious Fraud Office and City of London Police investigating transactions at Anglo Irish Bank offices in London By Angela Sammon - 08/10/09
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in Britain and the City of London Police are probing a series of complex financial transactions involving Anglo Irish Bank Corporation PLC.
The SFO is examining a number of significant transactions that allegedly took place before the commercial lender was nationalised by the Irish government earlier this year.
It is not clear at this stage what aspects of Anglo’s dealings the latest probe relates to but it is believed they are investigating loans of up to €122m drawn down by former chairman Sean Fitzpatrick over an eight-year period that were not disclosed. He avoided disclosing the loans by temporarily transferring them to Irish Nationwide Building Society.
The loans, together with Irish Life & Permanent’s controversial €7.5bn of deposits with Anglo last September, and the sale of a 10pc stake in the bank to a circle of its developer clients last summer, are the focus of a number of probes.
The move marks an international escalation of the investigations into Anglo, which is already being investigated by the Garda fraud squad and the director of corporate enforcement in Ireland.
The British authorities became involved after their counterparts in Dublin traced several transactions to the the bank’s London operation.
It is anticipated that any documentation uncovered by the SFO and the City of London Police will be sent to Dublin.
A garda spokesman claimed the force had contacted British authorities a number of months ago about the matter. He said it was “standard enough” to ask for help from the UK police as the Irish and British economies were so closely linked.
A spokesman for the Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, confirmed he has been briefed on the development by the relevant authorities in Ireland.
Ireland's special white-collar crime unit, backed up by Gardai, raided the Dublin headquarters Anglo Irish Bank in February.
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