Calls for further investigation of Anglo
Saturday, 21 February 2009
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has called for High Court inspectors to be sent in to examine the accounts at Anglo Irish Bank.
Deputy Gilmore said both reports into Anglo Irish Bank show that it was a 'rotten bank' that was 'rotting away at the heart of our economy'.
He said the bank funded speculation that drove property prices up and which contributed to the current economic difficulties.
He said the Government's decision to put the bank in to the guarantee scheme in September is now shown to be the wrong one.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael finance spokesman Richard Bruton has called for the investigation into Anglo Irish Bank to be passed on to the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement.
Mr Bruton was reacting after the findings of the PriceWaterhouseCooper enquiry into the bank was published last night.
Among the findings of the PwC probe was that Anglo had about 15 customers who owed the bank more than €500m each.
The report, conducted on behalf of the Financial Regulator between September and December last year, also showed that the bank was owed almost €12bn by just 20 customers and another €6.4bn by its top 20 property development customers.
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said in a statement that the report clearly demonstrated that the Government was correct to guarantee the financial system last September.
Richard Bruton described the report as heavily edited and said it did nothing to inspire confidence in the Government's handling of the scandal.
