FitzPatrickfamily loans rose to €100m

The trial of former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Sean FitzPatrick for allegedly misleading the bank’s auditors about multimillion euro loans between 2002 and 2007 has begun.

A jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that loans taken out by Mr FitzPatrick, his wife and family members increased from in the region of €10m in 2002 to around €100m in 2007.

The loans were used to finance development of shopping centres, hotels and offices at a time when a lot of money could be made in property development, prosecutor Dominic McGinn SC said.