Anglo trio accused of hiding accounts

Three former Anglo Irish Bank officials have gone on trial accused of hiding accounts connected to former chairman Seán FitzPatrick in an alleged tax evasion scheme.

Ex-company secretary, Bernard Daly, aged 65, of Collins Avenue West, Whitehall, Dublin; ex-chief operations officer Tiarnan O’Mahoney, aged 54, of Glen Pines, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow; and Aoife Maguire, aged 60, of Rothe Abbey, South Circular Rd, Kilmainham, Dublin have pleaded not guilty to seven alleged offences committed in 2003 and 2004.

During the trial opening yesterday, the prosecution told the jury the case revolves around non-resident bank accounts. Revenue was investigating such accounts to see if they were bogus and if Dirt was owed as a result.

Mr O’Mahoney and Mr Daly are alleged to have supplied a list to Revenue of non-resident accounts held by Anglo which didn’t include one held by John Peter O’Toole, who the court heard is a brother-in-law of Mr FitzPatrick. Ms Maguire, Mr Daly, and Mr O’Mahoney are accused of asking Anglo’s IT department to delete records of two accounts in the name of Mr O’Toole from the Core Banking System. Mr O’Mahoney and Ms Maguire are alleged to have concealed records relating to six other accounts which were either connected to Mr FitzPatrick or to Mr O’Mahoney.

The court heard a group was set up within Anglo in 2003 to co-operate with Revenue’s investigation. The prosecution alleges that Ms Maguire was assigned to the group by Mr O’Mahoney to influence the deletion of records related to the account connected to Mr FitzPatrick.

The trial will hear its first witness today.