Category: Banks & Finance

Dept. of Finance: Just as secretive, just as arrogant

The Department of Finance, just days after announcing to the nation that it was a cuddly, open and accountable entity, has been exposed as the hypocritical, dishonest and secretive organisation it has always been.

The Irish Independent put a series of questions to the Dept. regarding the hiring of a questionable consultancy firm to reorganize the state-owned Permanent TSB.

The Independent, and by extension every Irish citizen, were given the usual two fingers by this arrogant department.

Refusing to answer a single question a spokesman said:

Day-to-day operational matters are a matter for the respective board and management of the institution.

Despite the fact that it will cost Irish taxpayers millions the Dept. of Finance has refused to even name the consultancy firm involved.

So much for openness and accountability.

The Dept. is also continuing the cowardly and very expensive tradition within the civil service of hiring consultants to act as a firewall against being made accountable.

It was a (public relations) consultancy firm employed by the State to represent TSB that refused to name the consultancy firm employed by the State to reorganize TSB.

Different types of white-collar crime

Business manager with Bank of Ireland, William Freeland, has been jailed for four and a half years for stealing €3 million from the bank.

Between 2004 and 2009 Freeland set up fake accounts through which he stole the money. He would then open up more accounts to repay the loans taken from the previous accounts.

We can tell from this that Irish authorities do operate some sort of justice system for dealing with white-collar crime, which raises the following questions.

Why are those at Custom House Capital, who defrauded their clients of approximately €66 million in a similar type ponzi scheme, and at around the same time, still walking around as free citizens?

Why is it that the Irish Justice system can make the likes of Mr. Freeland accountable but are, apparently, completely incapable of bringing those bankers who destroyed the economy to justice?

'Socialist' Eamon Gilmore against taxing banks

Elaine Byrne has an excellent piece in last Sunday’s Independent outlining how the financial sector, with full support from the Government, are refusing to pay a measly 0.01 Financial Transaction Tax (FTT).

The tax, which would reduce Ireland’s bailout by €500 million annually, would, according to the ‘socialist’, Eamon Gilmore, put Ireland at a competitive disadvantage because the UK would not implement it.

Minister Rabbitte: Happy in his ignorance on top of a mountain

Anyone listening to Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte talking about white collar crime could be forgiven for thinking he was a politician from Outer Mongolia on a fact finding tour of Ireland (Marian Finucane Show, Sun, 11th March).

The single biggest issue that I encounter at meetings around the country is the demand from audiences to know why nobody in the banking fraternity has been made accountable for what has befallen us.

Minister Rabbitte is an experienced politican of long standing. It’s reasonable to assume that over the decades he’s noticed that white collar crime is endemic in Ireland.

It’s also reasonable to assume he’s aware that the State has never, ever taken any significant steps to bring white collar criminals to account.

At some point in his long career Mr. Rabbite must have thought to himself; why is it that Ireland, alone among all Western states, steadfastly refuses to prosecute white collar criminals?

What’s going through his mind when all those desperate and now impoverished citizens are screaming at him at meetings around the country:

WHY THE FUCK DOESN’T THE STATE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS WIDESPREAD AND CONTINUOUS WHITE COLLAR CRIMINALITY THAT HAS DESTROYED OUR COUNTRY AND OUR LIVES?

Does he think to himself; I must tell Marian the next time I’m on her show about this deep anger that I keep on encountering which seems to have come out of nowhere.

And Mr. Rabbitte (who, apart from his current visit to Ireland, has spent his entire life in a windowless hut high on a mountain in his beloved Outer Mongolia) seems genuinely puzzled about this problem that has destroyed Ireland.

It’s a very difficult question to answer and one is assured that the Office of the Director Corporate Enforcement and the fraud squad and others are seized of this issue.

Mr. Rabbitte seems to be genuinely ignorant of the fact that neither the ODCE nor the Fraud Squad have ever managed to bring a major white collar criminal to account.

He seems genuinely ignorant of the fact that even if the ODCE, miracluously or by some mad accident, brought a successful prosecution the ‘punishment’ available is a paltry fine and/or disqualification from managing a company for a few years.

But most of all Mr. Rabbitte seems genuinely unaware that he’s a senior government minister, that he has power, that he can, if he chooses, take action to force the state to bring the white collar criminals to account.

Unfortunately, for Ireland and its people, there’s as much chance of that happening as there is of an Anglo Irish Bank official ending up in jail.

Copy to:
Minister Rabbitte

Irish Stock Exchange operates in total secrecy

The following is a snippet of conversation about stocks and shares between George Lee and business editor of the Sunday Independent, Nick Webb (The Business).

Nick: The only way that you’re guaranteed to make money out of the stock market is to cheat.

George: Oh yeh, how would you do that?

Nick: I think inside information, if you know something’s going to happen, a takeover that’s going to happen and you buy shares but unfortunately it’s illegal.

Not that anyone’s ever been prosecuted in Ireland; it happens everywhere else but doesn’t seem to happen here at all.

Now this conversation was conducted in a jocular fashion but beneath the tongue in cheek banter there’s a very serious message.

Not once since the establishment of the state in 1922 has anybody, ever, been charge with insider trading in Ireland.

This can only mean one of two things.

Either the Irish Stock Market is the most closely regulated market in the history of the world admitting into its membership only those who are passed 100% honest by the Mother Theresa School of economics or breaches of the law are dealt with ‘differently’ from every other country in the world.

Here’s a hint.

The ISE does not come under the Freedom of Information Act. It does not submit annual reports.

‘Accountability’ takes the form of the submission of a very general, confidential statement to the Minister for Finance once a year.

In other words, the Irish Stock Exchange operates in total secrecy with no accountability whatsoever.

Alan Ahearne: Is he stupid or does he think we're stupid?

Former government advisor Alan Ahearne on media claims that NAMA is a secretive and unaccountable organisation.

I mean if you think about the banks who lent the money, and the banks still hold some loans to developers, they dont release information either about borrowers or loans.

They don’t release that detailed information. It would be breach of confidentiality laws if they did.

So I think trying to hold NAMA to a higher standard than the banks doesn’t seem particularly sensible.

It’s difficult to decide whether Ahearne actually believes his own bullshit or whether he thinks Irish citizens are stupid enough to swallow it.

Paying back the billions

Letter in today’s Irish Times.

Paying back banks’ billions

Sir,

Ireland’s debt repayments for the now dead Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS) will reach over €47.9 billion if the repayments are not suspended. The bill could even rise to €85 billion when borrowing and interest charges are added in.

The debts run up by these two institutions are not primarily the responsibility of ordinary people living in Ireland – they are principally the responsibility of those who supported Anglo’s and INBS’ reckless lending.
Yet we have been saddled with repaying the debts through a system of “promissory notes”. The next payment, amounting to €3.1 billion, falls due on March 31st. Such payments are scheduled to continue until 2031.

This money could and should be used to maintain and expand public services and provide a desperately needed stimulus to the depressed economy. For example, €3.1 billion would cover the cost of running Ireland’s entire primary school system for a year.

It is clear that the Irish Government is viewed as a compliant debtor by the international lenders, especially by the European Central Bank (ECB). The Government must take action to fundamentally re-orient this unbalanced relationship.

We, 57 teachers and researchers from a wide range of Ireland’s third-level institutions, therefore call on the Government to immediately suspend these repayments so that Ireland is viewed as a challenging negotiator by the relevant parties, including the ECB, and to ensure that this unjust debt is written down.

Yours, etc,

IAIN ATACK (TCD); JOHN BAKER (UCD); TOM BOLAND (WIT); HARRY BROWNE (DIT); AUDREY BRYAN (St Patrick’s College); TOM CAMPBELL (DSC Kimmage); NICOLA CARR (QUB); MAURICE COAKLEY (Griffith College); BRÍD CONNOLLY (NUIM); COLIN COULTER (NUIM); LAURENCE COX (NUIM); TONY CUNNINGHAM (NUIM); LAURENCE DAVIS (UCC); DAVID DELANEY (WIT); DYMPNA DEVINE (UCD); Eilish Dillon (DSC Kimmage); VINCENT DURAC (UCD); ROLAND ERNE (UCD); MICHAEL FOLEY (DIT); MARK GARAVAN (GMIT); PAUL MICHAEL GARRET (NUIG); MARY GILMARTIN (NUIM); PAT HANNON (DIT); ANTHONY HAUGHEY (DIT); KIERAN KEOHANE (UCC); IAN KILROY (DIT); CARMEN KUHLING (UL); DAVID LANDY (TCD); CATHY LEENEY (UCD); SEÁN L’ESTRANGE (UCD); GERARD MCCANN (QUB) RORY MC DAID (Marino Institute); HUGH MCBRIDE (GMIT); TERENCE MCDONOUGH (NUIG); CHANDANA MATHUR (NUIM); ROSEMARY MEADE (UCC); GERARDINE MEANEY (UCD); FIONA MEEHAN (DSC Kimmage); MARIE MORAN (UCD); EITHNE MURPHY (NUIG); ENDA MURPHY (UCD); MARY P MURPHY (NUIM); TRÍONA Ní SHÍOCHÁIN (UL); CIAN O’CALLAGHAN (NUIM); TOM O’CONNOR (CIT); TOM O’CONNOR (DIT); KATHERINE O’DONNELL (UCD); AILEEN O’GORMAN (UCD); THERESA O’KEEFE (NUIM); HELENA SHEEHAN (DCU); PAUL STOKES (UCD); ANDY STOREY (UCD); FIONNGHUALA SWEENEY (UCD); GAVIN TITLEY (NUIM); BRIAN TRENCH (DCU); THERESA URBAINCZYK (UCD) JUDY WALSH (UCD),
C/o Arklow Street,
Dublin 7.

Custom House Capital: Victims still waiting for justice

I see the victims of the Custom House Capital fraud have been given until March 23 to apply for compensation.

Victims can claim up to a maximum of €20,000 which, of course, is mere chickenfeed in comparison to what has been lost.

Some victims have lost everything including their homes and any means of providing for themselves in retirement.

One woman lost close to half a million so twenty grand, if she gets that, will mean little.

Meanwhile, the fraudsters responsible are still walking the streets enjoying the same rights and freedoms as law-abiding citizens.

The Garda Fraud Squad is, allegedly, investigating the matter but victims would be strongly advised not to hold their breaths.

What we seem to be witnessing here is the usual response to alleged white-collar crime in Ireland.

The matter is shunted into a sideline allowing so called regulators; police and politicians to wash their hands of responsibility while the victims are left to suffer the consequences.

Central Bank to stage new soap opera

The Central Bank, in an obvious attempt to cheer us all up, is to stage its very own soap opera.

Next week, three bank bosses who were on boards in the lead up to the 2008 financial crisis, must convince the Central Bank’s Fitness and Probity panel that they are capable of running their respective banks.

It’s all a great joke, of course. None of these gentlemen will suffer in any way for their gross incompetence.

But if, by some miracle, they’re told to pack their bags, those bags will be filled with a couple of million courtesy of the taxpayer.

Next week’s farce is only the first episode in this new soap opera.

According to sources it could be several months before the authorities decide whether there are grounds for a full investigation.

And if, by some miracle, there is an investigation, it will be many years before it comes to any conclusion.

And if, by some miracle, these gentlemen are found guilty of some wrong doing their case will be handed over to the ODCE to be considered for another few years.

And if, by some miracle, the ODCE actually manages, for the first time, to complete an investigation into allegations of serious white-collar crime a file will be sent to the DPP for consideration – for an indeterminate number of years.

And if, by some miracle, anybody can remember what the case was about, and if all the files are not mysteriously lost, and, indeed, if any of the bankers are still alive, they may face prosecution and be thrown in jail.

Ah no, I’m only joking about that last bit.

Never mind the €1.25bn Anglo Irish payment; what about Fingleton's watch?

The payment of €1.25bn to Anglo Irish Bank bondholders today is just the latest chapter in the ignominious collapse of our gloriously corrupt republic.

There will, no doubt, be a great deal of handwringing, breast-beating and whatever you’re having yourself before the day is out.

Personally, I’m going to mark the occasion by focusing on a much more important issue – Michael Fingleton’s watch.

Last September, dedicated sleuth and chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, Alan Dukes, dramatically declared to the world that he was on the verge of retrieving Fingleton’s watch for the greater good of the Irish taxpayer.

Watch this space…there will be one or two things coming out of that in the next couple of days.

Also hot on the trail of the dastardly Fingleton and his infamous watch was Duke’s deputy sheriff and chief executive of Anglo, Mike Aynsley.

We have not yet had a response to our request for the return of the watch said the intrepid detective but, in a stern warning to the wayward Fingleton, declared:

The bank won’t be infinitely patient.

Four months on and I’m still watching that (Dukes) space, still waiting for Aynsley’s patience to run out.