Willie McAteer, the former finance director of Anglo Irish Bank, has abandoned an appeal against his conviction and sentence for a €7 billion scheme to mislead the public about the true health of the bank.

Last July, former Anglo executives McAteer and John Bowe, as well as former chief executive of Irish Life & Permanent Denis Casey, were found guilty by a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of agreeing a scheme to mislead the public about the true health of Anglo.

McAteer, of Greenrath, Tipperary town; Bowe, from Glasnevin in Dublin; and Casey, from Raheny in Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to conspiring to mislead investors by using interbank loans to make Anglo appear €7.2 billion more valuable between March 1st and September 30th, 2008.

At 89 days, it was the longest criminal trial in the history of the State.

On July 29th, Judge Martin Nolan sentenced McAteer to 3½ years, Bowe to two years, and Casey to two years and nine months imprisonment.

The three men lodged appeals against their convictions and a hearing date has been fixed for the week beginning March 6th.

However, during case management procedures in the Court of Appeal on Friday, barrister Lorcan Staines, for McAteer, told Mr Justice George Birmingham that his client's appeal was being withdrawn.

Mr Staines, who said he received his instructions on Tuesday, told the judge that he had a notice of abandonment for McAteer’s conviction and sentence appeal.

Court records show that McAteer’s lawyers filed their written submissions in the appeal on January 20th.

Counsel for Bowe, Diarmaid McGuinness SC, said Bowe and Casey were ready to go ahead with their appeals.

Submissions drafted

Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Sinéad McGrath BL, told the judge that all three sets of submissions from the DPP were drafted and were with the director. She said her side would endeavour to have its submissions filed by next week.

Ms McGrath said there might be some “urgency” to the three-judge court’s eventual judgment on the appeal because there were “other trials” in the future.

The appeal is listed for one week of hearing commencing March 6th, the longest time set down for the hearing of a criminal appeal since the new Court of Appeal was established.

Mr Justice Birmingham said a rapid judgment was unlikely if the appeal would take a week to debate.

McAteer was not in court for the procedural matter.