Category: Banks & Finance

Ireland: A land of political plunder

A recent letter in the Irish Independent.

We must remember as well, that no formal banking inquiry has been undertaken, to let us know what actually really happened on that fateful night in September 2008.

This must not be swept under the carpet. We must demand an immediate independent inquiry.

I could not agree more with Brendan O’Connor when he states how historians would look back on this era, and say “how did people allow that to happen?”.

As Frederic Bastiat once said:

“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorises it and a moral code that glorifies it.”

This is just what we have allowed to happen.

Olivia Hazell,

Co Kildare

Response to Fingleton documentary

Letter in today’s Irish Times.

Sir,

Which Irish bank collapsed the most spectacularly relative to the size of its assets? Irish Nationwide.

Who said that the building society’s lending practices in the old Fingleton regime were “shoddy” and “well below standard“? Gerry McGinn former CEO of Irish Nationwide (Business, April 23rd, 2010).

Commenting on this, who said, “It seems extraordinary that none of this seems to have been reported by the auditors.” Labour Finance spokesperson at the time, Joan Burton.

Who were auditors to Irish Nationwide in the 10 years up to its collapse? KPMG.

Who has just been appointed as liquidator to IBRC? KPMG.

Who made this decision? Faceless pensionable mandarins in the Department of Finance.

Will we as a nation ever learn? No.

Joe Hackett
Dublin

Fingleton: The most important question was not asked

The RTE documentary on Michael Fingleton should not have been about Fingleton. Nor should it have been about what was, effectively, his private bank, Irish Nationwide.

It should have been about those responsible for permitting ruthless and greedy individuals like Fingleton to do pretty much as they pleased.

It should have been about the abject failure of the Central Bank and the now defunct Ifrsa to rein in this rogue banker.

Fingleton was just a greedy banker. He was good at manipulating people and the political/business environment in which he operated.

In that respect he was no different from all the other greedy bankers who were allowed to suck the lifeblood out of the country for generations to come.

Instead of broadcasting sensationalised documentaries that seem to be designed solely to trigger the anger of viewers the media should be ruthlessly focusing on those responsible for creating an environment where people like Fingleton can thrive.

That secretive, sleazy financial environment was created and is still strongly maintained by our corrupt political system.

So-called regulatory authorities like the Central Bank do not act independently of the political system.

There may be no direct instructions (although I suspect that there are) from politicians to regulators but over many decades a culture has evolved whereby regulators ‘know’ what is expected of them.

This is not just my opinion. The actions and non actions of regulators over many decades points clearly to a policy of looking the other way when it comes to white collar crime.

In Ireland it is not a case of soft-touch regulation, it is a case of no regulation whatsoever.

Here’s one of the very few references to the Regulator from the documentary.

So here we are nine years before Irish Nationwide goes bust, the Regulator has a report highlighting deficiences in its systems and practices and at the same time the Society is plunging headlong into ever larger developer deals, growing at a worrying pace.

This was just a building society but it wasn’t stopped.

So Irish Nationwide was going rotten, the Regulator knew it was going rotten. The failure to act ultimately cost Irish citizens €5.4 billion.

Why was it allowed to happen?

This is the question every journalist and media outlet in the country should be relentlessly demanding an answer to from those in power.

An irresponsible Central Bank still favouring the rich and powerful

Michael Fingleton’s lavish expenses and his refusal to return a €1 million bonus is the thing that will anger taxpayers the most according to an Irish Independent report today.

Regrettably, this is probably true.

Regrettably because the full force of public anger should focus on the betrayal by the so-called regulatory authority responsible for reigning in low-life individuals like Fingleton – The Central Bank.

In 2000 the Central Banks own consultants highlighted the lack of controls within Irish Nationwide when lending money.

Similar concerns were raised five years later in 2005 but no action was taken.

The figures are nothing short of incredible. Irish Nationwide advanced loans totalling €17 billion between 2003 and 2007.

Remember, this institution wasn’t even a bank, it was a bog standard building society.

Even with the very minimum of deliberation and paperwork, (which, apparently was the case) Fingleton must have been working 24/7 to deal with the sheer volume of cash flowing out of ‘his’ bank.

All this was done under the totally irresponsible eye of our facilitating Central Bank.

Next to our corrupt political system the Central Bank and other so-called regulatory agencies are principally responsible for the economic disaster visited upon the people of Ireland.

The Central Bank has a long and disgraceful history when it comes to protecting the interests of Ireland and its people.

Practically all decisions and actions/inactions by the Central Bank and other so-called regulatory agencies over the past several decades have benefitted rich and powerful interests while inflicting untold suffering on Irish citizens.

And in case there’s anybody out there labouring under the illusion that this particular leopard has changed its spots – it has not.

There is an ever-increasing body of evidence which suggests that the Central Bank is still operating under the same culture of favouring the rich at the expense of Ireland and its citizens.

Copy to:
Central Bank

The deal: Political victory but nothing much will change

Whatever the benefits, if any, of the deal reached with the EU on the promissory notes it cannot be denied that the event was a major political victory for the Government.

But, that aside, the deal will make no difference whatsoever to the hardships imposed and to be imposed on the people of Ireland.

Government politicians are congratulating themselves by saying the deal will result in softer budgets – it will not.

The deal will be irrelevant to those with €20 left in their pocket at the end of the month when state authorities coming banging on their doors demanding €98 instead of €100 in taxes and charges.

As the household tax, water charges and the next budget approach the politicians will revert to their old tune – austerity is the only game in town. Pay up and keep your mouths shut.

The following is an interesting exchange between Pat Kenny and Finance Minister Michael Noonan.

Kenny: Why did the ECB change its mind about the whole principle of this that was described by people in Frankfurt as ‘barely legal’.

Noonan: The legal people would say that the existing promissory notes arrangement was totally contrary to…

Kenny: Illegal?

Noonan: Totally.

Kenny: So it’s an improvement in its legality.

Noonan: Yes. Some bank people were saying to me, what you’re saying is illegal. I said to them: It’s an awful lot more legal than what you agreed three years ago.

What the hell…?

I recently came across an article in the Irish Times dated April 9 2012 reporting on the Commercial Court under Justice Peter Kelly.

Smack bang in the middle of the article the following sentence appears almost completely out of context.

Some Madoff cases emanating from the IFSC will soon come before it.

I thought, what the hell is that all about?

Bruton: It wasn't Lehman Brothers wot done it, it wasn't the Germans wot done it, it was the whole world

First it was Lehman Brothers who were to blame for our economic downfall.

When that excuse started to wear a bit thin blame was switched to those nasty Germans for lending all that money to innocent Irish bankers who lent it to innocent property developers who were best friends with innocent politicians.

Now, according to one of our more arrogant (ex) politicians, John Bruton, the entire world is to blame for the catastrophe.

And the gombeen wasn’t pulling his punches as he spoke to CNBC, effectively claiming that the world needs to man up and help save brave Ireland for saving the planet.

It’s important to make the point that the then government did this in order to prevent a bank run in a particular bank which could have led to catagion all over Europe, here in Britain and in the United States as well.

So in a sense the Irish taxpayer put its resources on the line in order to protect the global economy. Therefore there is, we would contend in Ireland, a global and European responsibilty to help us resolve this issue.

The 24 million documents lie

I simply refuse to believe the claim by the State that 24 million documents have to be examined before the Anglo Irish Bank trial can proceed.

If the figure was 24,000 documents I would be surprised but 24 million is just not believeable.

The principal allegation against Mr. Fitzpatrick seems to be that he was in breach of Company law when he allowed the bank to provide financial assistance to Sean Quinn and loans to ten customers, known as the ‘Maple 10’, to buy Anglo shares to prevent a collapse in the share price.

This is not, despite what we’re told, a complex charge and neither are any of the other charges.

There is nothing unique about the alleged crimes, that’s why they are listed in the Company Law Act. They are well known and, with the exception of Ireland, regularly come before the courts in functional jurisdictions.

If I was told that 24 million documents were processed during the Nuremberg Trials I would be surprised.

If I was told that the entire block of white collar crimes cases in America over a ten year period came to 24 million documents I would be surprised.

When I’m told that the trial of three bankers in a two bit, backward banana republic has to be delayed so that 24 million documents can be processed I think – Lie.