The jury is to resume deliberations on Thursday in the case involving a conspiracy to mislead investors in relation to the financial health of Anglo Irish Bank in 2008. The jury is now in its third week of deliberations, after a trial that is the longest in Irish criminal history.
Having already reached verdicts in relation to three of the four defendants, the jury is still deliberating in relation to the former group chief executive of Irish Life and Permanent (ILP), Denis Casey.
On Wednesday of last week the jury delivered guilty verdicts against former finance director of Anglo Irish Bank, Willie McAteer, and former head of capital markets at Anglo, John Bowe. On Friday the jury reached a verdict of not guilty against Peter Fitzpatrick, the former finance director of ILP.
Mr Fitzpatrick (63) of Convent Lane, Portmarnock, Dublin; Mr Casey(56), from Raheny, Dublin; Bowe (52) from Glasnevin, Dublin, and McAteer (65) of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co Tipperary, all pleaded not guilty to conspiring together and with others to mislead investors by setting up a €7.2 billion circular transaction scheme between March 1st and September 30th, 2008, to bolster Anglo’s balance sheet.
The ILP executives have said that they did not know how the transactions would be treated inthe books of Anglo Irish Bank. The prosecution has said they must have known.
On Tuesday the jury asked for and was given transcripts of two telephone calls which were played to the court earlier this year as part of the evidence. On Friday Judge Martin Nolan told the jury that that while a unanimous verdict was always preferable, he was directing that it could reach a majority verdict.
The jury has 11 members. A majority verdict means at least 10 must agree. One member of the jury withdrew from the deliberations some time ago, when she became unwell.
The trial began in January and the jury began deliberations on day 75. Today is day 89. The judge delivered his charge to the jury on Tuesday, May 17th. The jury has been deliberating for more than 58 hours.
He has set July 25th next for a sentencing hearing in relation to the two former Anglo executives, who have been remanded on continuing bail.
