Allied Irish Bank was living in “heady times” when it lent £740 million to an alleged fraudster accused of faking guarantees to increase their value, a London court has been told.
AIB, which lent Achilleas Kallakis and Alexander Williams more than £740 million to buy prestigious London properties, had expanded rapidly and was “far more aggressive” in how it lent money, a former staff member told Southwark Crown Court yesterday. The men face 23 charges of fraud.
The revelations came during the cross-examination of former AIB senior manager Michael Cooke, who oversaw the loans given to the pair.
Asked by Robin Barclay, for Mr Kallakis, whether 2007 and 2008 had been “heady days” at the UK loans division of AIB, Mr Cooke said: “Very much so.”
Mr Cooke, who left his role in 2008, said it was “daunting” to make presentations to the bank’s senior management in Dublin.
Bank executives built up the British loans book to €5.5 billion by the end of 2007, with loans to Mr Kallakis and Mr Williams representing 55 per cent of the total spent by AIB’s British office.
