Hanafin: Regulator has 'serious questions' to answer

Further pressure mounted on the Financial Regulator today after Government minister Mary Hanafin said he had serious questions to answer over a multi-million euro loans scandal at troubled Anglo Irish Bank.

The chairman, chief executive and a non-executive director of the financial institution have resigned over the fiasco in the past two days.

The Financial Regulator Patrick Neary is believed to have known since January that chairman Sean Fitzpatrick had been temporarily transferring Anglo Irish Bank loans worth €87m to another bank between 2000 and 2007 to hide them from shareholders and the public.

Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin said today of the regulator: “I think there are questions about information he had over 11 months that wasn’t acted upon or information that wasn’t even given to the Minister for Finance until two days ago, particularly in the context of the past few weeks when there has been so much talk of recapitalisation of banks, of state guarantees and trying to protect the consumer.”

She added: “I think there are really serious questions and I don’t know why that information wasn’t given before now.”

However Ms Hanafin stopped short of calling for Mr Neary’s resignation over the scandal.

“There may be a whole pile of reasons why this information was kept. It wouldn’t be fair for me to get into that,” she told the Saturday Edition programme on Newstalk Radio.

“It’s very difficult to see the circumstances as to why the Minister for Finance, at a time of actively negotiating with the financial sector, did not receive that information.”

Chief executive David Drumm and non-executive director Lar Bradshaw also stepped down from Anglo Irish Bank over the fiasco.

Mr Fitzpatrick also resigned his non-executive directorships with Aer Lingus, food company Greencore and packaging group Smurfit Kappa.

Newly-appointed Anglo Irish chairman Donal O’Connor said the financial would co-operate fully with the Irish Government in talks over a €10bn recapitalisation plan for the banking sector.