AGSI CONFERENCE:THE CRIMINAL investigation into Anglo Irish Bank is 90 per cent complete and two large files have been sent to the Director of Public Prosecution, Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan has said.
Mr Callinan emphasised he had “absolute confidence” in the investigation team and the gardaí also had access to senior counsel and forensic accountants.
Speaking at the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) annual conference in Limerick yesterday, the commissioner said the public needed to know that the longevity of the investigation was not a reflection of a lack of commitment.
“My key message here today is that the people with the expertise within the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Garda Fraud Bureau, are more than capable of investigating this particular offence.
“They have the necessary assistance to do that job, and the length of time it is taking is not down to resources, either financial or human.”
He explained that there were a number of “strands of inquiry” still going on and gardaí were still liaising with the DPP in relation to those. He stressed it would be “imprudent” for him to try and hurry the investigation along.
Fraud investigations were complex by their nature. There were issues around legal privilege and the resourcing of documents which necessarily prolonged any fraud investigation.
The director of the Office of Corporate Enforcement, Paul Appleby, gave a similar 90 per cent figure last month in a speech in Galway when he expressed confidence that the investigation would be completed by the end of the year.
He has already sent two extensive investigation files in relation to two aspects of the Anglo Irish investigation, one relating to the so-called “Maple 10” who were lent €451 million to buy shares in the bank in 2008.
The other related to an €8 million loan to former Anglo finance director Willie McAteer also in 2008.
Files have also been sent to the DPP in relation to the €7.2 billion back-to-back loan arrangement between Anglo and Irish Life and Permanent in September 2008 just before the bank collapsed and also in relation to former chairman Seán FitzPatrick who concealed loans from shareholders.
Several delegates yesterday raised the subject of the €3 million paid to former AIB managing director Colm Doherty, who is the son of former Garda commissioner Eamonn Doherty.
The issue of undisclosed bonuses to Bank of Ireland executives was raised at the conference by AGSI president Insp Aidan O’Donnell.
Mr Callinan said he understood the anger of members at what was happening in the bank, but in that respect gardaí were no different from the rest of Irish society.
Responding to the revelation that 120 gardaí were left with a “negative payment” when deductions were made in their January pay packet, he urged those in financial trouble to seek help within the organisation.
On the subject of an upsurge in the number of so-called “grow houses” where cannabis is produced, he said gardaí had raided 60 of them, arrested 40 suspects and seized the equivalent of €6 million worth of cannabis
He said criminal gangs were making a “quick buck” from cannabis growing which involved “low maintenance and high return”.