Up to 100 Anglo shareholders ready for court battle
Among those in the shareholders’ sights are directors, including disgraced ex-chairman Sean FitzPatrick, the bank’s auditors Ernst & Young and their insurers, — believed to be liable for between €500 million to €1 billion.
The exact form of the legal action is yet to be decided. Cases claiming breach of confidence, fraud and negligent misrepresentation are being considered.
It was standing room only as an estimated 300 Anglo Irish shareholders attended a meeting in the Royal Marine Court Hotel in Dún Laoghaire yesterday to debate a course of action.
It was agreed those interested in supporting legal proceedings will pay €1,000 into a “fighting fund” to support nominees cases, to which other people will be adjoined. According to the group’s legal advisers, led by solicitor and meeting organiser Julian Deale, this is as near to a class action as possible under Irish law.
The event began with an address by Mr Deale in which he told shareholders to prepare for a long legal struggle. He said he did not expect the legal action to be formally lodged before the end of next month.
Referring to phone calls he had received from Anglo Irish employees, Mr Deale said he believed knowledge of inappropriate activity within the bank had been widespread.
Mr FitzPatrick concealed loans totalling up to €122m, at one stage by temporarily transferring them to Irish Nationwide when the bank’s financial year end was approaching.
This controversy and the bank’s collapsing share price led to its nationalisation last week.
A small number of people left the hall prior to the meeting’s conclusion, unhappy with the legal advice and some claiming the action could take anything between two to 10 years to reach fruition.
Others demanded to know why criminal charges were not being pursued. Several said they intended to take up a suggestion to file a complaint of fraud against Mr FitzPatrick at local Garda stations.
Some left the meeting in tears, one man expressing despair at his losses due to the “criminal mismanagement” of the bank.
More meetings of the shareholder group are to follow, with a committee of five nominees to be selected to oversee the legal action.
One shareholder, a senior counsel, has separately lodged papers in the High Court suing the bank as a corporate entity, Mr FitzPatrick, the bank’s former chief executive David Drumm, ex-finance chief William McAteer and Pat Whelan, head of lending in Ireland. All four resigned in the wake of the share price collapse.
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