English financial watchdog ‘deferred to Irish regulator’

A former in-house lawyer for Morgan Stanley has told a court the English financial regulator deferred to the Irish regulator in relation to the so called “Maple Transaction” in July 2008.

Harry Eddis was giving evidence at the end of week five of the trial of former Anglo Irish Bank directors Sean FitzPatrick, Patrick Whelan and William McAteer. The three men have been charged at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court with 16 counts of providing unlawful financial assistance to 16 individuals in July 2008 to buy shares in the bank.

The 16 individuals are six members of the Quinn family and the Maple Ten group of investors.