Anglo may have known it faced bankruptcy from 2004, says High Court chief

The Master of the High Court has suggested that Anglo was aware of the solvency issues it faced for several years before the economic collapse.

ANGLO IRISH BANK may have known from as early as 2004 that it was facing the prospect of bankruptcy, the Master of the High Court Edmund Honohan has said in his submission to the Wright Commission, which is investigating the actions of the Department of Finance during the boom years.

The Irish Mail on Sunday reports that Honohan suggested Anglo may have been operating “a sort of Ponzi scheme” in order to avoid insolvency because the bank’s leaders “knew it would go bust if there was a ‘soft’ landing”.

Honohan was also sharply critical of the Department of Finance, saying that it had relied on “tradition, gut instict and the anecdotal” when evaluating its policies.

Read Ken Foxe’s report in the print edition of the Irish Mail on Sunday >

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