The first few witnesses have taken the stand at the trial of 3 former Anglo Irish Bank executives.
Sean FitzPatrick, Willie McAteer and Pat Whelan deny providing unlawful financial assistance to Sean Quinn’s family and the Maple ten group of investors to buy shares in the bank in July 2008.
As Claire Pyke from the Companies Office took the oath, the prosecution joked she’d the dubious honour of being the first witness in the trial.
Her evidence on various Anglo Irish Bank company documents lasted minutes.
Next up the jury was shown graphs charting the steady decline of the bank’s share price from its peak of 17.53 in June 2007 to just over 4 euro in July 2008.
The latter month is when Sean FitzPatrick, Willie McAteer and Pat Whelan are alleged to have provided unlawful loans to the Quinn family and the Maple ten to give the impression that the stock was stable.
Former Anglo company secretary Natasha Mercer is now being cross examined about Sean Quinn’s stake in the company and the 2008 St Patrick’s Day stock market massacre when bear stearns went under and anglo shares dipped by at least 20 per cent