THE OPPOSITION HAS questioned whether the Anglo tapes were ever handed over to the only inquiry that has so far been carried out into the 2008 banking crisis.
In a heated Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil, Mary Lou McDonald asked whether an investigation is under way into how the tapes were made public. She said it was not clear whether the tapes were either provided to the Nyberg banking commission during its investigation.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said he did not know if Peter Nyberg, who was appointed by the government to report on the governance of the Irish banking sector but did not name names in his final report, was ever given the tapes.
McDonald also asked questions about the public interest directors at the former Anglo Irish Bank and whether they were aware of the tapes – and if so, why they didn’t tell the government about them.
Gilmore said that a public inquiry would be the place to ask questions of the two directors, Alan Dukes and Frank Daly, who were appointed to the bank after it was bailed out by the State to ensure that it acts in the public interest.
Gilmore said the tapes showed the “arrogance”, “contempt” and “sheer greed” of senior executives at Anglo Irish Bank. “It’s disgusting,” he told the Dáil.
The Tánaiste said that he shared the frustrations of people asking why there has not yet been a full inquiry or why the “wheels of justice” have moved so slowly in bringing former executives to court.
He told the Dail that the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement has seized 3 million electronic documents and more than 5,000 documents as part of its investigation, while the Financial Regulator has seized more than 9 million electronic records.
Gilmore said that the leaking of the tapes is viewed as a “serious matter” by the special liquidator of Anglo Irish Bank and that an investigation is under way.
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