Banks will keep on getting away with it
From crime to jail sentence took less that three years.
Compare this with our latest banking scandal. The National Irish Bank investigation took more than six years. Bank personnel lied to and obstructed government investigators for at least a year. The bank was found to have robbed from their customers and the State. If prosecutions are taken - and, judging from past experience, this is highly unlikely - it will be many more years before justice is seen to be done.
It is also depressing to note that our so-called financial regulatory authorities have never exposed wrongdoing in the Irish financial sector. Even the much lauded Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA) did not go public with the recent AIB scandal until a whistleblower also informed RTÉ’s Charlie Bird.
Nor is there any reason to feel confident that the culture of corruption in the banking sector is being taken seriously by politicians. Legislators have only allowed a maximum fine of €5m to be imposed for any future breaches of regulations. A typical Irish bank would consider such a fine as a minor blip to its petty cash account. The future is indeed
Anthony Sheridan
1 Carraig Eoin
Cobh
Co Cork
