Three former banking executives have been jailed for conspiring to defraud the public about the state of Anglo Irish Bank in 2008.
Judge Martin Nolan described what they did as a “wrongful, deceitful and corrupt” crime that could have affected thousands of people.
It was standing room only in Court 9 at the Criminal Courts of Justice when Judge Martin Nolan began his scathing criticism of the three former bankers.
He said he appreciated the desperate situation they found themselves in back in 2008, but said the survival of their institutions wasn’t everything.
He accepted they gained no direct profit from the conspiracy and was aware that certain public bodies turned a blind eye, but he said he had to impose custodial sentences.
Anglo’s former Finance Director Willie McAteer was jailed for three and a half years for his part in a dishonest scheme that saw €7.2bn ping-ponging between Anglo and Irish Life & Permanent with the aim of misleading investors and depositors in the troubled bank.
His former colleague John Bowe was jailed for two years, while Denis Casey, who used to be CEO of ILP, was sentenced to two years and nine months.
There was a deafening silence in the court room after the sentences were handed down and the trio were led away by prison officers shortly afterwards.
