A JUDGE sentenced three former Anglo Irish Bank employees to jail yesterday for conspiring to hide accounts connected to former chairman Sean FitzPatrick from the Republic's Revenue Commissioners.
Former chief operations officer Tiarnan O’Mahoney, former company secretary Bernard Daly and former assistant manager Aoife Maguire were found guilty on Thursday on all charges and were sentenced yesterday.
O’Mahoney, who was second in command at the bank, received a three year sentence. Daly was sentenced to two years and Maguire was jailed for 18 months.
All three had pleaded not guilty to seven charges.
Judge Pat McCartan said it was a difficult case and that banking must be built on trust and honesty.
He said Anglo Irish Bank had had a very dishonest approach to its Revenue responsibilities and it was clear the three took part in a deliberate and ongoing fraud to stop Mr FitzPatrick's accounts from being disclosed to Revenue
He said the accused’s actions were "done out of misplaced loyalty but were still dishonest".
The judge praised those who stood up to their superiors and decided to archive the accounts instead of delete them.
Judge McCartan said the accounts would have remained hidden but for the fall of Anglo and the appointment of a new team who were looking into the issue of directors' loans.
He said this was a significant and deliberate fraud, which was well designed, not rash and continued over time. The judge said a prison sentence was warranted.
He said the fact that the three were older, would make serving time in prison harder.
Earlier, the judge heard pleas for mitigation on behalf of all three.
The court heard none of them had any previous convictions and none of them had personally gained from the fraud.
It was argued that Mr FitzPatrick was the “prime-mover” and main beneficiary of the fraud.
Counsel for Daly, Sean Guerin SC, asked the judge to bear in mind that the case against Mr FitzPatrick, who has never been charged in relation to the fraud, was stronger than the one against his client.
He asked the judge to consider “the impunity that Mr FitzPatrick has been fortunate enough to meet in these matters”.
Senior Counsel Brendan Grehan said the case was hard to divorce from the adverse publicity attached to the "toxic name Anglo".
He asked the court to remember that the bank itself was not on trial.
