Jury discharged as FitzPatrick trial set for October
The end of the trial at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court comes after seven weeks of legal argument in the absence of the jury.
Judge Mary Ellen Ring told the jury of six women and five men yesterday that the legal issues had been dealt with and, as a result, the timeframe for the trial had changed significantly.
She discharged the jury and excused them from jury service for seven years. A new trial date has been set for October 5.
The charges before the court were brought by the DPP after an investigation by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement into the alleged annual “warehousing” of loans by Mr FitzPatrick before Anglo Irish Bank’s end-of-year financial statements.
Mr FitzPatrick, aged 66, of Whitshed Rd, Greystones, Co Wicklow, had pleaded not guilty to 27 offences under the 1990 Companies Act. These included 21 charges of making a misleading, false, or deceptive statement to auditors and six charges of furnishing false information from 2002 to 2007.
Judge Ring told the 11-person jury — one juror was excused from duty last week because of issues with his own work — that this trial was no longer going ahead.
She said: “We will have to engage another jury to deal with this matter.”
There have been 27 days of the trial, with all but a few of these involving day-long legal wranglings between barristers for Mr FitzPatrick and for the prosecution. Both legal teams consisted of two senior counsel, two junior counsel, and solicitors.
No evidence was ever opened to the jury as the legal issue raised on the opening day led almost immediately to a voir dire or “a trial within a trial”.
Judge Ring last month apologised to the jurors for the delays, saying a witness illness was causing “serious timetable problems”.
Mr FitzPatrick is accused of failing to disclose to Anglo’s auditors, Ernst and Young, the true amount of loans to him or people connected with him.
The prosecution claims he authorised arrangements to ensure that the balance of those loans would be reduced or appear to be reduced at the end of the bank’s financial year and failed to tell the auditors about those arrangements.
He is also accused of failing to tell the auditors about arrangements between Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society in connection with loans to him by Irish Nationwide.
Finally, he is accused of producing financial statements about the value of loans to Anglo’s directors which failed to include the true amounts outstanding by him to the bank.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
