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 purported guarantees from a Hong Kong developer was “significant”, AIB said, in fuelling its decision to loan money to property tycoon Achilleas Kallakis and Alexander Williams.