Cowen says Anglo prosecutions must proceed
While he made his comments from New York, the Tánaiste, Mary Coughlan, declined to answer questions in the Dáil on speculation that the nationalised bank would need an increase of its state capital from €3.8 billion to €10bn.
Ms Coughlan, who was taking leaders’ questions on behalf of the Taoiseach, was jeered by opposition TDs who said she appeared to believe that Anglo was not yet fully nationalised.
Answering questions from Labour Party leader, Eamon Gilmore, on how much capital the bank needed, she said: “On the issue of Anglo, you put forward your view on nationalisation, for example. How much money was that going to cost the state in the context of further nationalisation?”
Labour’s Pat Rabbitte told Ms Coughlan “sure the Government has nationalised the bank” to which she responded: “I was talking about further nationalisation.”
Speaking during a break from the United Nations climate change summit in New York, Mr Cowen said any wrongdoing that lead to the near collapse of Anglo Irish Bank before the Government had to step in to rescue it, are being dealt with by gardaí.
“We would like to see them brought to conclusion as quickly as possible and any prosecutions which are likely to arise out of that proceeded with ASAP, as soon as possible thereafter.”
Ms Coughlan told the Dáil that the gardaí and the Director of Corporate Enforcement are getting all the resources they need to investigate the bank.
Mr Gilmore said Anglo was “the rotten bank at the heart of the whole toxic problem that has caused the collapse in our economy”.
He said it is 10 months since “the scandalous goings on at the bank” first emerged and we heard of “directors paying themselves huge bonuses, organising back to back loans and shifting money from one institution to another”.
“Around the same time, Bernie Madoff was arrested in New York. Since then, Bernie Madoff has been tried, convicted and jailed for a total of 150 years. Since then we have heard very little, unfortunately, about anyone being brought to book in relation to what happened at Anglo.”
The Tánaiste said she shared this frustration, but “we can’t be populist about this matter or in any way prejudice the investigation”.
“Every member of this House is of the view that we wish to have these investigation completed as quickly as possible,” she said.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said NAMA will allocate €30bn to Anglo and the Irish Nationwide Building Society. “This will not result in one single person being taken off the dole queue,” he said.
Ms Coughlan said NAMA was the most appropriate way of ensuring banks pass on credit to businesses.
