Former bogus account holders sue AIB for losses

A number of former holders of bogus non-resident accounts have initiated proceedings against AIB, according to a former assistant bank manager who says he is acting on their behalf.

The litigants are hoping to have the bank ordered to compensate them for what they will claim was the bank's role in their choosing to open the bogus accounts.

Mr Conor O'Mahony, who is in contact with former holders of such accounts, also said he is to write to Bank of Ireland next week to say it should compensate people who had offshore trusts through the bank "before we issue proceedings" against that bank.

Mr O'Mahony, a former assistant manager with AIB in Co Kerry, said he had met many holders of bogus non-resident accounts over the past 12 months.

"A lot of the people we met were guilty, full stop, but there are other people who genuinely believed they were doing nothing wrong and were encouraged to open accounts by the bank. Now these people find themselves being subjected to the name and shame process," said Mr O'Mahony. Under Revenue law, persons who have made involuntary settlements above a certain figure are identified in the Government publication Iris Oifigiúil.

Mr O'Mahony said he became involved in the issue of bogus accounts "as a business" as well as founding a "support group" for the former holders of such accounts. He said he hoped to use his expertise from his time as a banker in his work with the former holders of bogus resident accounts.

He would not disclose the number of High Court proceedings he said had been initiated against AIB in relation to bogus non-resident accounts. He said the process had reached the stage where discovery orders were about to be sought against the bank. These orders would, if granted, lead to the bank having to hand over confidential documentation to the litigants.

Mr O'Mahony said that after reviewing a range of cases, a number had been selected where it was felt the bank had a case to answer. A spokeswoman for AIB said that it would not be commenting on the issue.

Mr O'Mahony said that during his time with AIB he had been involved in the setting-up of bogus non-resident accounts. "I was just doing my job," he said. At the time he'd felt there was nothing wrong involved. He said the culture in the 1970s and 1980s about such matters was very different from now.

He was critical of the fact that people who had funds offshore with Bank of Ireland had been given an opportunity to come forward to the Revenue, while the people who had bogus non-resident accounts with AIB had been given no opportunity to avoid being identified publicly.

Mr O'Mahony said he had been working on the issue of bogus non-resident accounts and offshore funds "every day for the past 12 months".