AIB worker 'marked man' before sacking

A FORMER AIB employee has claimed he was dismissed from the bank after he revealed information through a whistleblower’s charter about irregularities in accounting systems.

Brian Purcell (38), from Dublin, was dismissed in April 2009, after the bank discovered he had accessed the bank accounts of nine employees.

But counsel for Mr Purcell, Michael Forde SC, told the Employment Appeals Tribunal his client’s use of the whistleblower’s charter had been “central” to his dismissal.

Mr Forde said Mr Purcell, a junior executive at the bank’s capital markets division, had availed of AIB’s “speak-out” policy to highlight concerns he had in February 2008. He had not suggested there had been any fraud at the bank, but “procedures were deficient” and could have been exploited by unscrupulous persons.

Mr Forde told the tribunal that his concerns were found to be correct by the bank’s investigators who said irregularities of internal accounting were “confusing and inappropriate”.

Within five days of having raised his concerns, Mr Purcell had been identified as a whistleblower to two other members of staff in an internal memo, Mr Forde said. “Once his anonymity was blown, he was a marked man,” he said, and the first opportunity to dismiss him was availed of by the bank.

The following month, a bonus Mr Purcell had received in previous years and had expected to be paid was not awarded to him. He then did a “foolish thing” by checking the bank accounts of his colleagues to see if they had been paid the bonus. His actions were discovered and he was suspended with pay pending an investigation. An internal investigation found he should be dismissed.

This was followed by an appeal and then a third investigation which upheld the dismissal and Mr Purcell’s contract was finally terminated in April 2009.

Counsel for AIB, Maireád McKenna, told the tribunal the bank’s decision to terminate Mr Purcell’s employment was proportionate and fair and was reached following a detailed process. The hearing was adjourned to the end of August.