Call For Anglo Tapes To Be Referred To An Garda Síochána

Fianna Fáil Spokesperson of Finance Michael McGrath has said the tape recordings reported in the Irish Independent of a conversation between senior Anglo Irish Bank executives in 2008 should be referred to An Garda Síochána and the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE).

Deputy McGrath commented: "I listened with shock to the tape recording of a conversation in mid-September 2008 between Anglo Irish Bank's then Head of Capital Markets and Director of Retail Banking Peter FitzGerald about the impending bailout of the bank.

"At this point, we don't know whether the Gardaí, DPP or Director of Corporate Enforcement is in possession of this or other tapes from around the time of the bank bailout though one would assume all tapes are available to the authorities. The content of this tape is unquestionably relevant to the various investigations that are underway and it needs to be referred to Gardaí and the ODCE immediately.

"Any suggestion that the taxpayer was lured into bailing out Anglo Irish Bank under a false impression about the State of the bank's financial condition is deeply disturbing and has to be fully investigated by the authorities. We need to get to the full truth about the way that bank was run and the level of knowledge the bank’s executives had about its true financial position in September 2008."

(CD/JP)