Anglo subject of three separate inquiries

ANGLO Irish Bank is the subject of investigations by three separate state bodies, the Garda Fraud Bureau, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement and the Financial Regulator, it has emerged.

Commenting on the background to these investigations the Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, has claimed the difficulties that led to Anglo being nationalised and the requirement that €30 billion of toxic property assets be placed with NAMA are similar to problems encountered by banks across Europe.

Speaking on RTÉ television, however, senior economist with the Economist Intelligence Unit, Dan O’Brien, dismissed the minister’s assessment and said the “bank was a particular case” which combined with an ineffective Irish financial regulatory system had meant Anglo had been allowed to get up to “really crazy behaviour”.