Jury told to have ‘moral courage’ as they begin deliberations

The jury has begun deliberations in the trial of three former Anglo Irish Bank executives accused of illegally lending money for the purchase of shares in the bank.

After over 10 weeks of evidence and 53 witnesses, jurors spent 50 minutes yesterday afternoon considering a verdict before being sent home by Judge Martin Nolan. They will resume on Monday morning. For the first time, a jury of 15 was selected to hear the case, due to its length. At the conclusion of the trial, 12 jurors were randomly selected to consider verdicts.

Former Anglo chairman Sean FitzPatrick and ex-directors William McAteer and Pat Whelan are charged at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court with breaching Section 60 of the Companies Act 1963 by lending money to investors to buy shares in Anglo.

Mr Whelan, 51, of Malahide, Dublin, and Mr McAteer, 63, of Rathgar, Dublin, are accused of 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.

Mr FitzPatrick, 65, of Greystones, Co Wicklow, is charged with 10 counts of loaning money to the Maple Ten.

All three have denied the charges.

The jury has already been ordered to acquit Mr Whelan and Mr FitzPatrick of a series of related counts.

The Maple Ten deal was designed to unwind the 29.4% control of the bank which businessman Sean Quinn had built up through Contracts for Difference (CFDs).

The 10 investors were loaned €450m by Anglo to buy around 10% of the shares which Mr Quinn controlled. Mr Quinn’s wife and five children were also loaned €169m to buy nearly 15% of the stock.

Judge Nolan spent over an hour addressing the jury.

He told them they must have “moral courage” and leave any prejudices at the courtroom door. “You are not entitled to visit upon them what has occurred since the Lehman Brothers crash of October 2008,” he said.

The judge told jurors they must decide on five questions before they can acquit or convict the men.

First, were the loans advanced by Anglo to the Maple Ten and the Quinn family? Second, was the purpose of the loans to stabilise the bank’s share price? Third, was the lending not in the ordinary course of the bank’s business? Fourth, did all three men know the details of the scheme and fifth, if they knew about it, did they take no steps to stop it.

The judge said if they answer ‘no’ to any of these questions, they must acquit the men.