Lies and secrecy are the principal weapons being used by the Government to protect the developers and bankers of Anglo Irish Bank whose greed has brought the State to the brink of bankruptcy.
There’s nothing new in this, the State and its agencies have always acted to protect the interests of the corrupt with no regard whatsoever for the good of the country or its people.
Investors, however, are not as gullible and docile as the Irish people as witnessed by the dramatic drop in the shares of BOI and AIB yesterday. Hard nosed investors know very well that lies and secrecy mean only one thing, Anglo Irish is in a mess.
The politicians are also lying about BOI and AIB; both of these banks are also in a mess. It’s only a matter of time before their massive loans are transferred onto to shoulders of taxpayers while the bankers head off into the sunset with their golden handshakes.
Despite strong evidence of wrongdoing at Anglo Irish Bank the Minister for Finance has steadfastly refused to take any effective action against Sean Fitzpatrick and other bank executives.
“The Director of Corporate Enforcement is investigating all matters in relation to these matters in Anglo Irish Bank…and what has happened in the past will be investigated and dealt with by the authorities we already have in place and I don’t intend setting up new agencies to do that.”
(Prime Time).
The ODCE, like the so called Financial Regulator, is a joke. He has little power, is starved of resources and staff and it can be said with absolute certainty that he will never bring any of these bankers to account.
As I said previously, this is no accident. In real democracies these matters are dealt with immediately and effectively by the police and courts, people invariably go to jail.
In a corrupt state like Ireland, mechanisms like the powerless ODCE, the ultra secretive Financial Regulator, High Court inspectors and tribunals are specifically designed to sideline all investigations into never ending and ineffective dead ends.
It took a High Court inspector six years to investigate National Irish Bank. When he finally made his report revealing widespread theft and corruption at the bank it was decided to take no action. The whole point of the exercise was to ensure a long inquiry consigned the matter to history thus making it easy to let the offenders off.
The Jim Flavin DCC/Fyffes case is the same. Senior counsel Bill Shipsey was appointed by the High Court last July to investigate the case – Why? The Supreme Court had already found that Flavin committed fraud on the market.
He should have been arrested and charged but instead we see yet again the strategy of appointing a powerless official to carry out a long investigation at the end of which we can be absolutely certain nothing will be done.
Copy to:
Financial Regulator
ODCE