Former Anglo finance director McAteer arrested

The former finance director of Anglo Irish Bank has been arrested by fraud squad officers investigating alleged financial irregularities at a bank.

William McAteer is being questioned by detectives from the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation.

He is being detained at Irishtown Garda Station, where he can be questioned for up to 24 hours.

It is the second time he has been arrested in connection with the ongoing investigation into alleged financial irregularities at Anglo.

McAteer, who is in his 60s, was arrested at his home in Rathgar, south Dublin, as part of a probe by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement.

It is investigating whether Anglo Irish Bank used more than €7bn of short-term deposits from Irish Life & Permanent to mask big customer deposit withdrawals.

Corporate watchdog Paul Appleby is heading the near three-year probe into the bank’s dealings in the lead-up to its collapse.

He recently revealed a third file on suspected fraud at the rogue lender has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

The reports related to a specific loan given by Anglo to a former director and details of the €450m loans-for-shares deal.

McAteer, who was also chief risk officer at the now nationalised lender, is the second Anglo executive to be quizzed by fraud squad officers.

Ex-Anglo Irish chief Sean FitzPatrick, from Greystones, Co Wicklow, was previously been detained by investigators.

Bailing out the lender, renamed Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Limited, is costing the taxpayer near €30bn.

It dramatically reduced losses to just over €100m in the first half of the year, down from the record-breaking €8.2bn loss suffered in 2010 – the worst in Irish corporate history.

Meanwhile the Government has been urged not to allow the repayment of a €715m Anglo Irish Bank bond – to unsecured, unguaranteed bondholders - which is due tomorrow.