‘Unjust’ to jail Anglo duo

A judge has ruled that it would be “incredibly unjust” to send two Anglo banking executives to jail as they were led into “error and illegality” by a state agency, the country’s financial watchdog.

Anglo’s former head of lending in Ireland, Patrick Whelan, and the bank’s former finance director, William McAteer were found guilty almost two weeks ago of giving illegal loans to developers to buy shares in the bank, a breach of section 60 of the 1963 Companies Act.

However Judge Martin Nolan yesterday said the attitude and behaviour of former Financial Regulator Patrick Neary had complicated the issue of sentencing, spared the two ex-bankers jail and adjourned their sentencing to assess suitability for community service.