A jury has been asked to carefully scrutinise the states of mind of two former Irish Life & Permanent bankers accused of conspiring to defraud.
They, along with two former Anglo Irish Bank executives, have denied allegations that they conspired to mislead investors into thinking Anglo was in a healthier financial state than it actually was in 2008.
It is the prosecution’s case that the former executives entered into a scheme whereby Anglo would transfer money to Irish Life & Permanent and have it returned through Irish Life Assurance to make its corporate deposits look €7.2bn stronger than they were.
Úna Ní Raifertaigh, senior counsel for the DPP, has spent the past two days delivering her final address to the jurors.
She believes the claims by Denis Casey, a former chief executive of IL&P and its former group director Peter Fitzpatrick – that they didn’t know what Anglo intended to do – are “inconceivable”.
She said it was entirely obvious to them that the public were not to be told about the reality of the transactions.
John Bowe (aged 52) from Glasnevin, Dublin, Willie McAteer (aged 65) of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co Tipperary, Denis Casey (aged 56), from Raheny, Dublin, Peter Fitzpatrick (aged 63) of Convent Lane, Portmarnock, Dublin have all pleaded not guilty to conspiring together and with others to mislead investors between March 1 and September 30, 2008.
