AFTER TWO FULL days of deliberations the waiting game continues at the Anglo trial where three former executives of the bank are charged in relation to illegal bank lending.

The jury will begin deliberations for a fourth day today.

The seven women and five men spent six hours deliberating on Monday at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin, while yesterday they started their deliberations at 10.30am until they were sent home by Judge Martin Nolan at 5pm.

They also deliberated for one hour last Friday. In total, the jury have been deliberating for eleven hours, stopping only for lunches and short breaks in between.

Today marks day 46 of the proceedings, a trial which has seen over 54 witnesses give evidence.

The Anglo three

Anglo Irish Bank’s former CEO and chairman Seán FitzPatrick, the former MD of lending in Ireland for Anglo, Patrick Whelan and the former chief risk officer and finance director, William McAteer are charged with breaching Section 60 of the Companies Act 1963 by lending money to investors to buy shares in Anglo Irish Bank.

The charges which the jury are considering relate to whether the three men are guilty of providing unlawful bank loans to ten customers of the bank, known as the Maple 10, in 2008.

All three deny the charges.

Last week, the jury were directed to find Fitzpatrick not guilty on charges relating to the Quinn loans. They were also told to find Pat Whelan not guilty of seven charges of being privy to the fraudulent alteration of a loan document.

Judge Martin Nolan has told the jury that the three men cannot be blamed for the “financial calamity” caused by the collapse of the bank.

He added that the role of the financial regulator, the legal advice and the involvement of experts in the unwinding of Sean Quinn’s position in the bank all had no bearing on the verdict.

Jury

So far, the jury have asked two questions.

On Monday, the jury asked for copies of the evidence given by Anglo’s former Chief Financial Officer, Matt Moran, and the bank’s former Head of Group Compliance, Fiachra O’Neill.

The jury also asked for copies of the loan documents given to Patricia Quinn.

They will continue their deliberations this morning at 10.30am.