Redactions to documents released under the Freedom of Information appeared to have been designed to damage the reputation of former IBRC chief executive Mike Aynsley, his lawyers have claimed.
A letter issued by Mr Aynsley's solicitors to Minister for Finance Michael Noonan on Thursday described the impact of the material as a targeted attack on an "internationally respected and highly experienced banking expert" employed as chief executive of an Irish bank that was in crisis.
According to the letter the documents released under FoI to deputy Catherine Murphy were selective in terms of the material not redacted and claimed this was designed to support the agenda of department officials opposed to IBRC's independent decision-making process.
According to the letter a document called: IBRC Briefing Note for meeting with CEO/chairman” from July 2012 “was almost entirely redacted, save for paragraphs where the character and reputation of our client was impugned to a degree that is designed to damage the reputation and standing of Mr Aynsley”.
The letter quotes the following section of unredacted text from the documents, prepared by the department’s shareholder management unit, to support Mr Aynsley’s claim.
“We are concerned at the number of large transactions that have been poorly executed under the direction of the current CEO [Mike Aynsley].
The performance of management in executing these transactions raises the question of the effectiveness of the CEO”.
According to Mr Aynsley’s solicitors he had never seen this document before and was unaware of its existence.
The letter suggests the only rationale for this “highly personalised vilification” was that officials in the department were trying to influence the process through which various transactions were completed by IBRC.
“The documents disclosed to deputy Murphy are partial, selective and the extracts retained in the document are designed to support the agenda of certain officials of your department who were opposed to the independent governance and decision-making process adopted by the IBRC board and our client as CEO of IBRC.”
Mr Aynsley is now seeking unredacted copies of all documents in relation to him held by the department.
The State-owned Irish Bank Resolution Corporation was created in 2011 to wind down the assets of Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society.
