Accountancy regulator widens Anglo investigation

The Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board is widening its investigations into activities involving Anglo Irish Bank.

The Board's complaints committee is now examining a multi-billion euro deposit made by Irish Life and Permanent in September-October last year, the so-called 'golden circle' of 10 investors who bought shares in Anglo with €451m in loans from the bank and the performance of Anglo's auditors Ernst & Young.

The complaints committee has appointed former Comptroller and Auditor General John Purcell as a special investigator.

The Government nationalised the troubled Anglo Irish Bank in January.