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Moriarty Report: First reactions

March 23, 2011 in Body Politic, Corporate, Government, Moriarty Tribunal by Anthony | 5 comments

The first and most important thing to be said about the Moriarty Report is that nobody will be made accountable. This, of course, is no accident.

While tribunals have power to produce facts they are specifically prevented from bringing the guilty to account. Any subsequent police investigation is barred from using evidence uncovered by the tribunal. In other words, they must begin the entire investigation again without any assistance whatsoever from the tribunal report.

Of course, there will be no Gardai investigation; Irish police do not concern themselves with the activities of politicians or white collar individuals, it’s a well established tradition.

Now that the report has been published we will move into the next phase – discussion.

Just as tribunals are designed to sideline proper investigation into serious corruption and the ban on police using tribunal evidence has the effect of protecting the guilty, national discussion, conducted through a largely captured media, is designed to allow everybody to indulge in the great Irish tradition of pretending that Ireland is a functional, democratic state.

Miriam O’Callaghan set the ball rolling tonight on Prime Time by asking a question she has asked on countless occasions in the past concerning an endless line of previous scandals – Do you think there will be criminal charges?

Pat Rabbitte, just like dozens of politicians before him intoned in a sombre voice, well I hope so.

Gay (Mad) Mitchell suggested that Mary Robinson should investigate the tribunal report, picking out those parts which, in her opinion, could be forwarded to the DPP.

So, an investigation into an investigation to be forwarded to another state agency for yet another investigation, sounds familiar.

The absolutely critical factor in all this farce is – never, ever allow reality to impinge on the delusions of the nation.

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NAMA fails to deny very serious allegations

February 24, 2011 in Banks & Finance, Corporate, Government, NAMA, Regulatory Agencies by Anthony | 3 comments

On the 27th January last Fianna Fail Senator Mark Daly made a series of very serious allegations on Today with Pat Kenny against the National Assets Management Agency (NAMA).

The allegations are as follows:

That NAMA is breaking the law by failing to hold pubic auctions or competitive tendering for the sale of public assets within its remit.

That NAMA is allowing some properties to be sold back for virtually nothing to the original owners.

That NAMA is facilitating a scam of monumental proportions whereby friends of the original borrowers are putting in false bids for assets thus preventing Irish taxpayers from obtaining the maximum value from the assets.

That the scam is happening wholesale and without any transparency whatsoever.

That the scam, although widely known about within official circles, is being ignored by the authorities.

That within the next six months the best properties will be cherry picked by the ‘scavengers and vultures’ resulting in a very serious loss for Irish taxpayers.

The following is NAMAs response to the allegations:

It (NAMA) had addressed this extensively at the Public Accounts Committee. We would ask any other person to advise us of incidents where they think this may be happening. For our part NAMA is determined to avoid such developments in so far as it can within the law as passed by the Oireachtas.

This infantile (non) response contains one crystal clear message from NAMA – We cannot deny any of the allegations made against us.

Pat Kenny ended the interview by saying:

We can talk about this but we cannot point the finger until we have chapter and verse.

This, of course, is ridiculous, the finger has been very clearly pointed. The allegations are extremely serious, they have been made by a public representative on live radio.

In a real democracy state authorities, including the police, would by now be conducting an investigation with the aim of bringing charges.

In Ireland – Nothing.

This scandal has all the hallmarks of previous scandals such as DIRT and Ansbacher where state authorities were fully aware of what was going on but chose to ignore events.

It proves that despite everything that has happened in the past two years nothing has changed.

For the record I have transcribed the full interview (with some minor editing) with my own comments and emphasis.

Today with Pat Kenny – Thursday 27TH January 2011

Pat Kenny: (Introduction)

It has been claimed that people who owe hundreds of millions of Euros to the banks are buying back their debt at rock bottom prices through third parties and off shore companies. Fianna Fail Senator Mark Daly claims some property is being sold back for virtually nothing to the original owners and that NAMA is not following legislation enacted by the Oireachtas.

Kenny: Exactly what are you alleging?

Senator Daly: It’s not so much an allegation as a fact. Under the NAMA legislation, section 25 of the Act, NAMA had to prepare a code of conduct for the disposal of bank assets within three months of the passing of the Act. The Act says that the sale of properties and assets including bank loans would be governed under the Code of Conduct for the governance of state bodies which was passed in 2009.

In that section 18 said any asset being sold to all the bank loans would have to be sold by auction or competitive tendering process.

Kenny: So we would all know about it?

Senator Daly: So we would all know about it. But the competitive tendering or public auction would obviously involve huge amount of advertising that we would see in all the property supplements but this doesn’t appear to be happening either. What appears to be happening is people who are in the know, the same people who are in the know who got us into all this trouble are aware through the banks, through the receivers what these assets can now be bought at, the haircuts.

In one particular case I’ve come across in the UK the original loan was twelve million, the haircut was six million but the asset itself was undervalued, was worth nine million really and the guy, the original borrower of the loan said to his friends; you pay the banks six million, they’ll be happy and we’ll sell it for nine and they made a nice three million Euro profit.(This is a serious allegation).

And that type of thing is happening wholesale because there’s no transparency.

Kenny: But why would NAMA want to do that, if the thing is worth nine million why wouldn’t they sell it for something approaching that?

Senator Daly: Because no one is trying to maximize the value because once the bank gets the haircut that NAMA imposed on them…(Interrupted).

Kenny: Of course, if NAMA impose a haircut and say this asset is only worth six million and it’s actually worth nine, if they have done that then they’re exposing themselves as having undervalued the property which means that they’re not being very professional about what they’re doing. (Extreme understatement).

Senator Daly: There’s a lot of shady behaviour going on here (VERY SERIOUS ALLEGATION) and if they follow their own rules as set out in the NAMA legislation and had a competitive tendering process or public auctions then they would maximize the value but what is actually happening is, and the banks and receivers have admitted this to me, that the banks have said look once we get what we paid for, the haircut from NAMA, we’re happy.

Kenny: This is utterly; utterly dishonest if that’s what NAMA are at. If NAMA, and I’m only saying if, if NAMA is applying a haircut that is greater than the haircut that the market would suggest it should have then NAMA is not doing its job properly.

Senator Daly: All the receivers, auctioneers and banks want to do is pay back NAMA the money that’s owed. Maximising the value is not really their concern.

Kenny: As a taxpayer it is our concern.

Senator Daly: It is our concern which is why the transparency that I’m looking for. First for all that the rules would be followed, that the law would be followed (Serious allegation).

Kenny: That it would be by public tender or public auction.

Senator Daly: Exactly, and that all the banks and the receivers would go through this process but they’re not even doing that because as you can see you are not looking at papers full of advertising saying NAMA property for sale (Serious allegation).

Kenny: What interests me more, they should do that and that’s something they’ll have to rectify not that you have pointed it out, but what is more sinister is that if they applied a haircut that is too severe, rather than the medium term or long term economic value of the asset which they would be in a position to hang onto because that was the idea they could hold it in a way that the banks felt they couldn’t because of their balance sheets, NAMA could hold it longer.

But if they’re just dispatching stuff to get cash in to show off how well they’re doing for instance but they applied too severe a haircut which means the taxpayer has to put more money into the banks which we didn’t need to do and that is the obscenity if it’s true.

Senator Daly: Well, the obscenity of it is on top of that, the banks once they’re quite happy to get the money that they owe NAMA aren’t going to go after the borrowers, the original borrowers for the balance of the money, they’re just not going to do it and receivers, talking to the banks, have admitted that to me (Serious allegation).

The problem with this is that I’m not an investigator, I’m not the Guards but then again we know of plenty of cases where it’s taken two years to bring people to court for very obvious corporate governance issues.

Kenny: Let’s point this out carefully. NAMA, was expected to make a profit, that part of the whole thing that at the end of the day it might turn a small profit. It was not expected to turn a profit in the short term, it was supposed to hang onto to assets and realize the value. If it’s selling them at under the market value, disposing of them just to get cash in then it is not doing the job for which it was established.

Senator Daly: Let’s be clear on this. When the banks are appointing auctioneers and receivers to realize the money the fault lies with them in that they’re not advertising at a very minimum the property for sale and saying; this is what’s available, this is the current bid that’s on it. The transparency is required because first the citizens and the taxpayers are entitled to know that the assets which they currently own through NAMA are being maximized in value and that is not happening (Serious allegation).

Kenny: And NAMA, if it wants to, like in any commercial auction or tender, they can have a reserve, if it doesn’t meet the reserve, if they feel they’re being scammed in some way…interrupted.

Senator Daly: No, what is actually happening is the original borrowers, in these cases that have been brought to my attention, are arranging for their friends to put in the bids. Nobody else is aware that this place is for sale because no one else knows that the original borrower and the asset is in trouble and therefore this is a scam of monumental proportions (Very serious allegation).

Kenny: NAMA has responded to your claims.

It had addressed this extensively at the Public Accounts Committee. We would ask any other person to advise us of incidents where they think this may be happening. For our part NAMA is determined to avoid such developments in so far as it can within the law as passed by the Oireachtas.

Senator Daly: Now that’s not exactly encouraging, is it? Please come to us with a file that we can send to the DPP. What we’re talking about here is the transparency required and they’re not even following section 35 of the NAMA Act to this must be open and transparent. The concerning part about all this is in the next six months the cherry picks, the best property are going to be bought up by the scavengers and the vultures (Serious allegation).

Kenny: You have not gone public on the particular deals that you are aware of, have you gone to the Gardai with them?

Senator Daly: The problem here is you need smoking guns; you need evidence, emails, cheques, money going over, phone calls. This is all quiet little chats in the corner over a pint. The guy who came to me on this had been approached at a dinner party to be the third party to buy a property in the UK and he would then be given a cut. He came to me because he was so disgusted that the same people who had gotten us into this trouble in the first place are now doing the same thing again (With the assistance of NAMA/the state?).

Kenny: Look, if this scandal is real, the people who are culpable, if these things are being sold to private equity funds or whatever, the valuers are the corrupt people because they’re saying this thing is worth six million to NAMA and then it’s being sold on for nine?

Senator Daly: The legislation says you must have an auction or tendering process and therefore it is now illegal to be selling any asset, the disposal of all these assets, the two billion that has been disposed so far, hasn’t been done properly (Very serious allegation).

This practice is so widespread that embassy staff know about it and it’s on the dinner party circuit around Dublin and elsewhere it is quite well known that there are fellows that are cutting deals.

Kenny: We can talk about this but we cannot point the finger until we have chapter and verse.

Senator Daly: The law should be followed; it should be done by tendering or public auction. The NAMA website should have all the assets, the loans that are up for sale, what they were originally bought for, what the current bid is and no asset should be sold within four weeks of it going on the website that way no one can say there was a scam, there was a deal done.

At the moment we’re not following the law.

Senator Daly: In the next six months the guys who caused all the trouble are going to make billions off the taxpayer because they’re buying property at less than the asset value because they’re arranging for their buddies to put in false bids and they’re buying it for less than the market value (Serious allegation).

Copy to:

Today with Pat Kenny
Senator Daly
NAMA
NTMA
ODCE
Dept of Finance

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Simon Kelly: Obnoxious, obscene and puke-provokingly sickening

February 15, 2011 in Corporate, The State by Anthony | 2 comments

It’s good to see that at least some journalists are beginning to express appropriate rage for what has been done to our country and to identify those responsible.

Carol Hunt, writing in the Sunday Independent, does not mince her words in her assessment of failed property developer Simon Kelly.

Some quotes:

Every single person I’ve spoken to this week begrudges you your big house (an old rectory set in five acres), your five properties you collect rent on in Liverpool, your €80,000 income and the fact that you can send your kids to expensive private schools and make the rest of us pay for it.

Every family that fears losing, or already has lost, their home resents the fact that you got away with your “spousal asset transfers” when you asserted,

“My house is in my wife’s name. There are reports that developers are transferring homes into their wives’ names. Any smart developer would have done that right from the start.”

Ultimately, we resent the fact that you don’t seem to realise that what you’re doing is disgusting, immoral and pathetic. And yet you’re still moaning. You complain that Nama (that’s us, Joe Public), which you’re into for about €200m, isn’t paying you a salary despite you submitting a ‘business plan’ to it. You’re “in limbo”, you say.

You’re not in limbo, Simon, you’re in fucking La La Land and so are the people who let you, and all the others like you, get away with this sort of shit.

And hearing about smug gits like Simon who are allowed to ruin the lives of so many people and yet maintain their own exalted standard of living doesn’t help.

What sort of insane, upside-down banana republic are we living in at all?

A reader from Kerry responded in the letters page:

In her excellent article on developer Simon Kelly Carol Hunt wrote that what he is doing is “disgusting, immoral and pathetic”. I want to add the words “obnoxious, obscene and puke-provokingly sickening.”

And I want to add the words ‘chronically stupid’ to the failed developer’s list of characteristics.

Most of those responsible for destroying our country have wisely kept their heads down particularly in very recent times as ordinary citizens begin to realise the full horror of what has been done to them.

Not scumbag Kelly though, he’s taking every opportunity he can to insult ordinary Irish citizens (his victims) who are being forced to pay for his greed, arrogance and stupidity.

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Sheriff Lenihan feeding the journalists

June 29, 2010 in Corporate, Government, Media coverage by Anthony | No comments

NAMA to go after homes of wealthy developers. (Cowen and Lenihan reject plea to spare family houses).

Cowen ignored lobbying by CIF for builders.

It’s right to seize developer homes

The above three, tough talking, headlines from yesterday’s Irish Independent give the impression that the Government are going all out to deal with those nasty property developers, that the wealthy are not being let off the hook at the expense of the hard pressed taxpayer.

And that, of course, is exactly the purpose of the propaganda which, as always, is gratefully lapped up by naïve journalists.

Government ‘sources’ feed journalists the story that NAMA will move to seize the personal assets and houses of property developers in the best interests of the taxpayer.

The tough talking, no nonsense sheriff, Brian Lenihan, even included a provision in the NAMA Act to pursue developers who transferred their assets to their wives or children in an attempt to avoid paying their debts.

Alas, it’s nothing but the usual waffle designed to fool long suffering taxpayers (and journalists) as the following quote demonstrates.

However, the NAMA Act does state that nothing in its provisions will interfere with the 1976 Family Home Protection Act, which prohibits the sale, mortgage or remortgage of a family home in Ireland without the express consent of both spouses.

That may make it harder for NAMA to take away family homes from property developers with large debts.

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Turning corners or a circle of disaster?

June 3, 2010 in Banks & Finance, Corporate, Government by Anthony | No comments

Halleluiah, praise the lord, wonder of wonders, we have – yet again – turned a corner.

I say ‘a’ corner because I’m not sure whether Brian Cowen’s corner is the same as Brian Lenihan’s or indeed the same as the many other corners we constantly seem to be turning.

I’m not an economist, just an angry observer so the following ramble may be a complete misinterpretation of what’s going on.

We have just handed over another two billion to Anglo Irish Bank. The handing over of this money to this bankrupt bank is, quite literally, no different from throwing it into a furnace.

This money immediately becomes part of the national debt so, for many decades to come, Irish citizens will be paying back every cent in successive budgets.

And remember, the Government is standing by with at least another 8 billion to throw into Sean Fitzpatrick’s furnace.

With hardly a murmur of comment the guts of a billion was spent last week to recapitalise (nationalise) EBS.

The cost of just these two events completely wipes out the savings planned in the next budget. The Government is scrapping the bottom of the barrel looking for ways to squeeze more and more out of taxpayers who have little left to give.

The gap between what the state spends and what it takes in is over 18 billion and increasing by about a billion every month. For me, the figures just do not add up.

The Government is getting great praise from abroad for its slash and burn policies and politicians and naive commentators are lapping it up but how much more can the Irish people take?

I believe that if Irish citizens continue to allow themselves be stripped of everything they own they will be reduced to a quality of life similar to that of the 1940/50s.

Even that would be a manageable situation if the country was led by honest, courageous and visionary politicians. But the political system is corrupt and rudderless, there’s billions owed on personal loans and credit cards and at least 70 billion owed as a result of the bank bailout.

It seems to me that for this government’s polices to work Irish citizens will have to accept living in absolute, grinding poverty for generations to come – how likely is that?

I don’t believe we’re turning corners, it’s more like we’re going around in a circle and that circle is sinking rapidly.

But then again I could have slipped into a parallel universe two years ago and am now living under the delusion that catastrophe is staring us in the face.

Hopefully my escape from this delusional world is – just around the corner.

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ODCE: Still trying defend the indefensible

June 2, 2010 in Corporate, The State by Anthony | No comments

The Director of Corporate Enforcement, Paul Appleby, is still desperately trying to convince anyone willing to listen that his office served the public interest in the DCC/Flavin fraud case.

The point of a High Court inspection is to get to the bottom of things. That was achieved with the inspectors’ report.

He essentially concluded that there was no deliberate wish to evade the law.

We obviously accept that. We felt, and still feel, that we discharged a valuable public-interest role in uncovering many of the events and issues.

The Supreme Court had already found that DCC had engaged in serious fraud but this finding was essentially dismissed by a mere High Court inspector who effectively apologised to Flavin and DCC for any inconvenience caused.

Appleby also pointed out that the High Court inspector found that DCC had made a ‘costly error’ when illegally dealing in Fyffes shares in 2000.

Isn’t it incredible that one of the most senior law enforcement officers in the state can casually state that the ‘illegal’ trading of stocks was nothing more than a costly ‘error’?

The word ‘illegal’ has two different meanings in Ireland.

When the state is using the word in relation to cases like the DCC fraud it is just a series of letters beginning with ‘i’ and ending in ‘l’, it has no other meaning and therefore no further action is necessary.

For ordinary citizens the word always means police, arrest, courts and frequently – jail.

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Simple law enforcement; not special juries, are the solution to white collar crime

May 21, 2010 in Banks & Finance, Corporate, Government by Anthony | 2 comments

The Director of Public Prosecutions, James Hamilton, gave a very interesting interview on The Week in politics last Sunday.

He believes that expert juries are needed to tackle the rise in white-collar crime. He also spoke about the difficulties posed by the absence of a whistleblower’s charter.

The following are some of the answers he gave during the interview followed by my comments.

Why have you chosen this time to outline your views on white collar crime?

I think the whole question of financial regulation has become a very topical one and we’re obviously in an era where we’ve moved from the former idea of light regulation into a different mode. I anticipate that in the future we’re going to be seeing more files in the area of white collar crime and therefore it’s an appropriate time to look at whether or not we have the appropriate tools to do that.

The whole area of financial regulation has been topical since, at least 1979, when the criminal politician Haughey gained power and banks and other financial institutions were given a free hand to engage in criminal activity without fear of accountability.

Many countries, especially America, now regret the policy of light touch regulation and, unlike Ireland, are taking strong measures to rectify the situation.

Irish governments have always followed a policy of no regulation whatsoever, light touch regulation was and is irrelevant in the Irish ‘Wild West’ financial sector.

Practically nothing has been done to bring the financial criminals to justice and the little that has been done is nothing more than an attempt to fool the international community that Ireland is a normal, functional state.

There is no requirement for special juries, simple law enforcement will resolve the problem of white collar crime.

Why do you think a whistleblowers charter is now necessary in this country?

Essentially, a decision was made not to have whistleblower legislation back in 2007. The main reasoning behind that decision seems to have been that whistleblower legislation might cut across our system of light regulation and wasn’t appropriate given that that was the type of legislation we had at the time. I think there’s a case for looking again at that.

What? Whistleblower legislation might cut across our system of light regulation? Only a fool would put forward never mind actually believe such drivel.

The reason whistleblower legislation was rejected in 2007 and the reason it is still not even being considered is simple. If such legislation existed, the watertight protective systems set up by politicians and operated by so called regulators would fail thus exposing the criminals operating within the Irish financial sector.

Some may wonder whether our existing laws are up to the job?

Some aspects of it are quite robust. For example, in 2001, we amended our Prevention of Corruption Act and strengthened them in quite a significant way by introducing a presumption that where a payment is made to an official and that includes Ministers, TDs and Senators who makes a decision affecting a citizen that’s there’s a presumption that the money is paid corruptly.

There have been significant prosecutions under that legislation.

Significant prosecutions – who, when? I rang the DPPs office for a list and was met with the standard reply.

Oh no, Mr. Sheridan, that’s privileged information, we couldn’t possibly give that out.

When I pointed out that any such prosecutions were likely to have taken place in a public court accompanied by widespread media and public comment I was told to put my request in writing.

The letter is in the post.

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Senator Ross: Still shocked after all those scandals

May 18, 2010 in Banks & Finance, Corporate, Government by Anthony | 2 comments

Once again Senator Shane Ross is shocked by the activities of greedy bankers.

His shock on this occasion was caused by the news that greedy bankers had hatched yet another sly scheme to get around government restrictions on pay and pensions (Newstalk).

The details of this latest greedy manoeuvre are not very important. It is, after all, just the latest scam hatched by greedy bankers who know they have absolutely nothing to fear from anybody.

What’s really fascinating about these events is how so called financial experts like Shane Ross can remain completely blind to the reality of the situation.

People like Senator Ross continue to believe that there is some kind of division between politicians and bankers; that politicians and regulators are acting in the interests of ordinary citizens and the good of the country.

The Senator seems to believe all this despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Since the foundation of the state no bank or bank official has ever been convicted of a crime. This is despite the fact that they have been robbing their customers and the state with impunity for decades.

It is only in very recent times and only after the total collapse of the economy that some minimum actions have been taken against these people.

Senator Ross apparently believes that the establishment of a Financial Regulator in 2003 was a genuine attempt to bring law and order to the Wild West Irish financial sector when the facts point to the complete opposite.

The Financial Regulator operates under strict secrecy laws that would be seen as extreme in the former Soviet Union.

The Senator probably thinks that such secrecy laws just accidentally appeared on the statute books, he probable thinks that politicians had absolutely nothing to do with the drawing up of these secrecy laws.

These secrecy laws have just one affect – they provide total protection for the widespread criminality within the Irish financial sector, criminality that continues unchallenged to this day.

The Senator told listeners:

People don’t seem to realise that the banks are running rings around the Government.

Wrong Senator, it is patently obvious that politicians and the regulator are willing participants in a system that defends the interests of bankers at the expense of ordinary citizens and the good of the country.

Copy to:
Financial Regulator
Senator Ross

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Greencore scandal and the Irish Stock Exchange

May 14, 2010 in Corporate, The State by Anthony | No comments

I came across the following report (undated, but I think it’s sometime in the early 1990s) published in the then Cork Examiner concerning the Greencore scandal.

The Greencore saga lives on.

Last night in an extraordinary statement the Stock Exchange said it wanted to make it ‘clear’ that it ‘neither confirms nor denies that it is or is not investigating or monitoring dealings in any stock at any time for the purpose of identifying any possible insider dealing’.

The Cork Examiner has been given assurances that a high powered team of experts has been set up to unravel the real meaning behind the statement.

Insider dealing may have taken place in the shares of Food Industries now the subject of a £54 million bid by Greencore.

The Stock Exchange statement is indeed extraordinary, even bizarre but not unusual within the context of so called Irish financial regulation.

Even today, decades later, the Irish Stock Exchange is a completely secretive organisation accountable to nobody but itself.

See Gavin’s blog and Sunday Independent for full details on this particular scandal.

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The Kelly’s: Like father, like son

April 15, 2010 in Banks & Finance, Corporate by Anthony | No comments

Somebody by the name of Simon Kelly wrote an article recently in the Sunday Tribune thanking Anglo Irish Bank for being there to help the Irish people in the early days of the Celtic Tiger.

According to Kelly thousands of jobs would not have been created if Anglo wasn’t there to support business and grow the economy.

In other words Kelly is saying that the countless billions needed to keep zombie Anglo alive is a fair price to pay for a few thousand jobs.

This is akin to saying – Ok, Hitler had his failings but he created thousands of jobs building the autobahns, or, the people of Haiti should be thankful for the massive death and destruction visited on their country by the earthquake because the disaster resulted in massive international aid.

Here are a few more gems of wisdom from this former developer.

It’s a national phenomenon (the financial crisis) caused by the actions of hundreds of thousands of people, each in their own way causing a boom, and now a bust.

Everybody had skin in the game so stop looking for scapegoats as a way to hide personal guilt.

So I say to Charlie Bird and the like; get off David’s lawn and get out of Sean’s front drive. They have lost everything but they still have to live. The bank failed because we all failed.

If you want to know what caused the crash and the failure of Anglo, have a look in the mirror. We all built the boom and we all caused the bust.

So there you have it, we’re all to blame for what went on in Anglo. Seanie and the others are being scapegoated just so we can all hide our personal guilt for the part we played in destroying the country.

So who is this Simon Kelly? Well, it turns out he’s none other than the son of property developer Paddy Kelly. I wrote about Kelly Snr. after listening to an interview he gave to Eamon Dunphy in November 2009.

The interview occurred before the putrefying stench from Anglo had seeped out and infected the entire nation.

Like his son, Paddy Kelly also blamed others for the financial disaster. It was the fault of the planning process; it was the fault of government policy.

Kelly openly admitted that ‘brown envelopes’ were taken to smooth out planning problems that were so tedious, they would try the patience of Job. He also admitted that he would build anywhere no matter what the consequences once he got planning permission.

When asked about Anglo he said:

Well, I think of the skill of Anglo Irish and the people involved, those people are so creative.

All the banks are in danger but you’ll find that as the weeks go on Anglo Irish are in very good shape and you’d be surprised how good the quality is of the people in there…watch Anglo and be optimistic.

We can see from this interview and the Sunday Tribune article why the Kelly’s are failed property developers but I don’t think the people of Ireland, who will be paying for the activities of the ‘creative’ people in Anglo for decades to come, will appreciate being blamed for the recklessness and greed of property developers and bankers.

Copy to:
Simon Kelly

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