Martin: Publish report into Nationwide

A REPORT on how the Irish Nationwide Building Society needed almost €5.4 billion in re-capitalisation must be published, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has urged.

The Department of Finance says it has no plans to publish the report, which was completed almost 18 months ago. Officials say the report, by accountants Ernst and Young and solicitors McCann Fitzgerald, is confidential and subject to legal privilege.

However, Mr Martin, speaking on Newstalk yesterday, said the findings must be published. “I will raise it in the Dáil and I think it should be put into the Dáil library,” he said.

Mr Martin said the report should be brought before the relevant Oireachtas committee. He said Irish Nationwide was part of the banking crisis and the appalling lack of regulation.

This week, Michael Fingleton, the society’s former chief executive, claimed he ran the organisation in the best possible manner. He was giving evidence at the Employment Appeals Tribunal, rejected suggestions that he ran the organisation as a personal bank.

Speaking on Newstalk, business journalist Richard Curran said he had become aware of some of the material in the report and it made depressing reading.

He said the board had given Mr Fingleton special powers in the early 1980s, and that these were renewed in the 1990s.

He said that when the corporate governance was looked at, it was found Mr Fingleton could to set, vary or alter the interest rate and fees at his discretion.

“He was entitled to sanction loans and circumvent the credit committee in Irish Nationwide, which he did,” said Mr Curran.

He said Mr Fingleton and another executive had control of a bank account that was used if funds were needed in a hurry and there was no limit on the funds that could be drawn down.

Mr Curran said “business introduction” fees of as much as €1m were paid, invoices were paid twice, and there was no formal process for extending loans.

It was found that millions of euro in consultancy fees were paid to British off-shore companies connected to client companies and borrowers.

Mr Curran said the way the society was run was appalling and completely lacked proper corporate governance.