Shatter ‘frustrated’ by Drumm’s failure to help Garda probes

JUSTICE Minister Alan Shatter has expressed his disappointment that former Anglo chief executive David Drumm is not co-operating with Garda investigations into suspected offences at the bank.

But Mr Shatter said that while he shared people’s frustration over the issue, the case was very different to that of US financier Bernie Madoff, who was rapidly imprisoned in the US after a multi-billion-dollar fraud was exposed.

Mr Shatter was reacting to a report yesterday which suggested the gardaí had abandoned attempts to interview Mr Drumm, who is now living in Boston and refusing to co-operate with the national fraud bureau’s inquiries into Anglo.

“I am, of course, aware that that was a difficulty that the gardaí were experiencing,” Mr Shatter said. “I want to be very careful to say nothing that could prejudice any possible prosecution that might take place or which could in any way prejudice any court hearing. So I’ll say no more than that, other than it’s disappointing that he didn’t cooperate. People will draw their own conclusions from that.”

Files on the case will shortly be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions but it remains to be seen if prosecutions ensue.

Mr Shatter said he understood people’s frustration about the issue.

“Well, of course, in the US the most famous one involving Bernie Madoff involved him putting his hands up and confessing his crimes and pleading guilty. Here we have an individual who’s taken off to the US who is quite clearly not cooperating with An Garda Síochána.

“I share the frustration of everybody in the context of this issue and what happened within our banks. Within my first day of being in the Department of Justice, I queried where matters were going with the investigations, how rapidly they would be concluded, how speedily the DPP would get papers,” he said.

“I’m pleased that papers on this aspect of investigation are going to the DPP. It’s for the DPP now to make decisions as to how to best proceed. He’s independent; I can’t influence that.”

Separately, Mr Shatter also weighed in on the case whereby Facebook is being sued for negligence by a father in the North because his 12-year-old daughter was able to post “suggestive” photographs of herself to the website.

Mr Shatter said parents had a responsibility to supervise what their children did on the web.

“It’s not simply a matter of legislation,” he said. “This is a young girl who put stuff on Facebook herself, and parents have a very specific role to play in monitoring what their children are doing on the web, and I don’t think it’s always a question of suing people; it’s about parents taking responsibility.”