AIB ‘part of gold rush buying into London property’

AIB lent property tycoons Achilleas Kallakis and Alexander Williams 12% more than was needed to buy the Daily Telegraph’s London headquarters building, at a time when it was keen to invest in UK real estate, jurors heard at Southwark crown court.

The pair are accused of more than £60m (€74.6m) fraud against AIB and Bank of Scotland. They have pleaded not guilty to 23 counts.

On day five of the retrial, defence counsel for Mr Kallakis said: “AIB was clearly part of the gold rush (of banks looking to buy into the booming London property market)”.