Anglo used investors as ‘human shield’ to protect its interests

A Co Tipperary man has claimed he and 131 other investors in a property fund marketed by the former Anglo Irish Bank Private Bankers are being used as “a human shield” to protect the bank’s own interests.

The fund relates to the Whitgift shopping centre and office development in Croydon, south of London. Yesterday Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo, asked Mr Justice Peter Kelly to fast-track into the Commercial Court the action by solicitor John Spencer, of Ballina, Co Tipperary, who has claimed damages for alleged negligence by the bank in relation to the Whitgift Geared Property fund in which he invested €1m.

The fund was marketed by Anglo Irish Bank Private Bankers, now IBRC Wealth Management, to high-net worth private investors in autumn 2005. It was arranged by Anglo Irish Bank Private Bankers in conjunction with Anglo Irish Assurance Company Ltd and involved 132 policyholders investing in life assurance policies whose value was linked to the value of the property assets of the fund.