Northern Ireland

David Drumm: Former Anglo Irish boss denies fraudulent bank transfers

Former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm following an earlier hearing at Dublin District Court. Picture by Brian Lawless, Press Association
Former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm following an earlier hearing at Dublin District Court. Picture by Brian Lawless, Press Association Former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm following an earlier hearing at Dublin District Court. Picture by Brian Lawless, Press Association

FORMER Anglo Irish Bank boss David Drumm has denied arranging dishonest or fraudulent multibillion-euro transfers to boost the lender's books in the months before it went bust, a court has been told.

The ex-banker is charged with conspiracy to defraud and false accounting relating to €7.2 billion being moved between Anglo and the Irish Life and Permanent (IL&P) and Irish Life Assurance (ILA) companies between March and September 2008.

Drumm has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

In the first day of evidence in a trial which is expected to run for several months, his lawyers told the court yesterday that he does not deny the money was moved.

Defence barrister Tessa White said: "David Drumm accepts all of the factual matters relating to the mechanics of how the September transactions happened and the only issue that he disputes is whether they were fraudulent or dishonest or that there was any dishonesty in their reporting."

Judge Karen O'Connor told the jury that the admissions would considerably reduce the length of the trial.

Earlier, Paul O'Higgins, Senior Counsel for the state, told the court that Drumm had arranged the €7.2 billion transfer.

He said: "This was a completely artificial process leading to a dressing up, a more than dressing up, a falsification of Anglo Irish Bank's balance sheet so that its non-bank deposits were €7.2 billion bigger than they really were."

Mr O'Higgins said the money was moved at "lightning speed" and the prime objective was to "dishonestly create the false impression" at Anglo's year end in 2008 that its non-bank deposits were in the 50 billions.

Drumm, who is living in Skerries, Co Dublin, is on bail.

He was Anglo chief executive from January 2005 until December 2008. He left Ireland for Boston in 2009 after the lender collapsed.