Former Anglo finance director denies he was “instrumental” in allegedly illegal Maple Ten deal

Conor Gallagher

The former finance director of Anglo Irish Bank told gardaí he was involved in the allegedly illegal Maple Ten deal but denied he was “instrumental” in it.
William McAteer told investigators that he “certainly had no involvement in the lending” to the investors which is the subject of the charges against him and his fellow former executives Sean FitzPatrick and Pat Whelan.
The trial also heard evidence from Menolly Homes owner Seamus Ross, who was one of the Maple Ten. He told the trial that he was “delighted” to assist the bank when they asked him to buy Anglo shares to help unwind businessman Sean Quinn’s 29.4 per cent control of the bank.
“They had helped me out in an earlier life,” he told prosecuting counsel Paul O’Higgins SC.
“I signed whatever documents were put down.”

Borrowing

Mr Ross agreed that the deal involved him borrowing money from the bank for the purchase of the shares. However he said he said the deal “didn’t even go on my radar” because he was focused on a very large High Court action at the time involving the presence of pyrite in homes he had built.
Mr McAteer, Mr FitzPatrick and Mr Whelan are accused of providing funding for the purchase of its own shares in contravention of the 1963 Companies Act.
They have been charged at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court with 16 counts of providing unlawful financial assistance to 16 individuals in July 2008 to buy shares in the bank. The 16 individuals are six members of the Quinn family and the Maple Ten group of investors.
Mr Whelan has also been charged with being privy to the fraudulent alteration of loan facility letters to seven individuals in October 2008.
Mr FitzPatrick (65) of Greystones, Co Wicklow, Mr McAteer (63) of Rathgar, Dublin and Mr Whelan (51) of Malahide, Dublin have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Candidates

Detective Sergeant Michael Prendergast told the court that Mr McAteer was interviewed while in custody in March 2010 and on a later occasion in November 2011.
Gardaí asked Mr McAteer who chose the Maple Ten investors and who made the decision to loan to them.
The accused replied that then Anglo CEO David Drumm decided the candidates and that it would have been the director of lending who decided to loan to them.
Mr McAteer said he was made aware of the Maple Ten’s identities “probably in mid-July 2008” and was made aware they were to be subject to 25 per cent personal recourse on their loans “sometime in July 2008.”
During Mr McAteer’s fourth interview, Detective Garda Glen Mackessy put it to him: “You were an integral part of the plan to dispose of the CFD positions, you helped orchestrate the transaction including the lending and you were aware at all times of the details of the transactions.”

Involved

The accused replied that he “certainly wasn’t instrumental” but that he was “certainly involved in carrying out the transaction”. He said he travelled to the Middle East and spoke to Rabobank and the Financial Regulator when trying to find solutions to Mr Quinn’s control of the bank.

He said that he had no involvement in the lending to the Maple Ten and that there were meetings and phone calls that he wasn’t involved in.
When gardaí again asked if he instructed others in the transactions, Mr McAteer replied that he “certainly instructed people to make sure everything was done properly.”

Delighted
Today the jury also heard from one of the Maple Ten, Seamus Ross. He described himself as a builder and owner of Menolly Homes, which at the time was the largest house builder in the state.
Mr Ross agreed he was worth over a billion euro at the time and that his company was building up to 1500 house a year. He said his circumstances later changed significantly when he entered NAMA.
Mr Ross said he had dealt with Anglo for 15 years when Mr Whelan and Mr Drumm asked him to buy shares in the bank. He said he was delighted to help them.
The trial previously heard he was loaned €45 million by Anglo to buy around one percent of their shares. This loan was originally at 25 per cent personal recourse to Mr Ross but this was reduced to zero recourse in a later letter. A third letter reinstated the recourse at 25 per cent in January 2009.
Mr Ross said it was his understanding that the recourse was at zero per cent from the start.
He said he couldn’t recall when he signed the second letter altering the recourse because at the time his attention was “100 per cent focused on a major court case.”

Radar
“This didn’t even go on my radar,” he said, referring to the share transaction. He said his High Court case lasted nearly four years
“Hundreds of people were knocking on my door because their houses were falling down with pyrite,” he told counsel. “I can’t emphasise this enough, I was passionate about those people’s homes; it was affecting my business life and my personal life.”
Counsel asked Mr Ross why he would have signed a third letter reinstating the 25 per cent recourse if he believed the loan was subject to zero recourse at the time.
The witness responded that he didn’t read the letter before signing it.
“If I had read it and found the recourse was 25 per cent, I don’t think I would have signed it.”
Mr Ross agreed with counsel for Mr Whelan, Brendan Grehan SC, that he “was a hard-nosed businessman” with a reputation for driving a hard deal with banks.
“But I was also a nice fella,” he added before agreeing that it would be in his interest to try to “get off the hook” for the recourse which stood at €12.5 million.
Mr Grehan suggested that he had “muddled” the letters in his mind and now remembers the one that is most favourable to him.
“Human nature being what it is of course that’s exactly what happened,” Mr Ross replied.
The trial continued before Judge Martin Nolan and jury.