Phone calls from within Anglo Irish Bank have been played for the trial of four former bankers accused of conspiring to mislead investors and depositors.
They were recorded from its treasury department in the lead-up to the publication of its half-year and end-of-year reports in 2008.
When Anglo’s share price plummeted in March 2008, Matt Cullen, who was Director of Treasury, said a decision was made to show a “strong corporate number” for their half-year report.
He described an alleged transaction with Irish Life & Permanent that saw €750m of Anglo’s money appear on its books as a corporate deposit from Irish Life Assurance.
In September 2008, their focus was on the end-of-year report.
During a recorded call, Anglo’s former Head of Capital Markets John Bowe tells Mr. Cullen their deposits are going to be €4bn less than they should be. He is told it won’t be a problem to get it from ILP, and that he thinks they’ll go to €6bn if needed because you “might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb”.
John Bowe has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to defraud depositors and investors in Anglo by making its deposits look €7bn stronger than they actually were.
Willie McAteer – Anglo’s former Finance Director, Denis Casey – former Chief Executive of Irish Life & Permanent and its former Group Director Peter Fitzpatrick are facing the same charge.
