Updated 11.15pm
FORMER CEO AND Chairman of Anglo Irish Bank Sean FitzPatrick has been found not guilty on all ten charges he faced on providing unlawful financial assistance to bank customers to buy shares in the bank in 2008.
The jury returned to the courtroom just after 5pm this evening and delivered its verdict. The jury forewoman said the verdict had been a majority one, rather than a unanimous one.
FitzPatrick did not react as the verdict was read.
Judge Martin Nolan dismissed FitzPatrick and said he will not have to appear in court again tomorrow.
The jury will continue its deliberations in the charges against Willie McAteer and Pat Whelan tomorrow morning.
The jury has been deliberating for 13 hours and 29 minutes so far. Both McAteer and Whelan face 16 charges each of providing unlawful financial assistance to the Maple Ten and members of the Quinn family to buy shares in the bank in 2008.
Speaking to reporters outside the court room, Fitzpatrick thanked his wife, two sons, daughter and sister who, he said, “supported me not only during this trial but the past six years of personal difficulty”.
While beaming at the assembled group, he thanked his legal team, by name, for their “dedication and hard work”.
“I would also like to especially thank the women and the men of the jury who found me not guilty of all charges,” he added.
Before concluding his short statement, Fitzpatrick mentioned two “very special friends” who had stood by him “during this very difficult time”.
He asked that the “courtesy extended to him and his family during the trial by the media would be maintained”.
He claimed that the privacy of his family had been “intruded on over the past six years” and that he hopes that “will now cease”.
Originally published 5.07pm
Note: Comments on this article are closed for legal reasons as the trial is still ongoing.
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