It is surprising that although David Drumm has been a household name since late 2008 when he resigned as CEO of Anglo Irish Bank (now part of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation) and since then, there has been an avalanche of press coverage and at least two books (The Fitzpatrick Tapes and Anglo Republic), but to date there has been very little comment from the man himself. When RTE correspondent, Charlie Bird called on David’s family home in Massachusetts last year, all he got was a “have some respect Charlie”. There have been volumes of court documents of course since David filed for bankruptcy in the US in October 2010 and there have been some brief phone exchanges but today in Irishcentral.com, journalist and activist, Niall O’Dowd has what appears to be the most extensive interview yet with the former Anglo CEO who left Ireland in 2009 and has more recently been involved in a bitter battle with Anglo about the repayment of loans. The Gardai in Ireland want to speak with him, but apparently don’t have a good-enough case to seek his extradition. The Chartered Accountants Regulatory Body has temporarily postponed disciplinary proceedings against David who is a chartered accountant, until the current brouhaha with Anglo has abated. The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement is believed to have been building a case against senior former Anglo executives including David. And Anglo recently accused David of changing the terms of loan agreements in the case of the Maple Ten. Even the US bankruptucy official handling David’s bankruptcy has taken an aggressive view on David’s dealings. It is fair to say the 45-year old Dubliner is feeling embattled, and in this extensive interview today, we do get some revelations
(a) NAMA. David says that NAMA was a mistake “recognizing losses that no other country did, here in the U.S they have just more experience and they had seen this before, no bank was forced to mark all its assets down at a time when you couldn’t sell anything. The UK didn’t do it, nobody in Europe did it, so Ireland stood alone and by marking this thing down Ireland separated itself down.” Elsewhere he says that Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC) reviewed the Anglo loan book at the end of 2008, and that Donal O’Connor who replaced Sean Fitzpatrick, and Anglo director Lars Bradshaw both reviewed PWC’s work, and Anglo concluded that it was correctly showing loan and loss provision values.
(b) Banking supervision in Ireland. Is portrayed as a bit of a joke and when Anglo got into difficulty in 2008, the Central Bank of Ireland was unable to provide a lender of last resort function. Anglo’s balance sheet had gotten too big at €73bn, not unlike its Irish competitors, and even though the loan book was seen as good collateral, the central bank was unable to provide short term funding on what were seen to be good assets when the inter-bank funding market froze after the collapse of Lehmans in the middle of September 2008. “they were clueless” says David now. The Regulator and central bank were allegedly telling David that the Department of Finance (where Kevin Cardiff was then responsible for banking in his role as assistant Secretary General) was being relied on for guidance. Anglo did not ask for the guarantee on 30th September 2008 according to David, Anglo just wanted a secured loan from the central bank for €2bn. The first David heard of the guarantee was when he woke up on 30th September. David is seemingly bitter that it was Bank of Ireland and AIB that demanded the blanket guarantee but it was “put at Anglo’s door”
(c) Maple Ten. David says that “The financial regulator and the Central Bank were in every meeting with me and other directors of the bank throughout 2008 and I have to tell you, that was team work, because it [Sean Quinn’s 25% shareholding which Sean needed to sell] was a common problem” and “the government, and through it’s offices through the Central Bank and through the regulator were pushing the bank like hell to fix the problem [Sean Quinn’s 25% shareholding which Sean needed to sell]” David says that based on his conversations with John Hurley, the then-governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, the Minister for Finance (Brian Cowen until May 2008 and the late Brian Lenihan thereafter) and “most likely” the Taoiseach (Bertie Ahern until May 2008 and Brian Cowen thereafter) knew about the problem, and by implication the solution of using the Maple Ten, 10 large customers of Anglo, to buy Sean Quinn’s shareholding with non-recourse loans. The interview makes a reference to “John Carney” as the governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, that looks like a mistake and should refer to “John Hurley”. There is also a reference to a “Conn Horgan” but it is not clear who this is. David says the transaction “made sense to Morgan Stanley who were advising us” and that it “made sense to our [Anglo’s] legal advisers” What is new is the claim by David that 25% of the loans advanced to the Maple Ten was recourse.
(d) Sean Quinn. David says that, in relation to building up a 25-28% stake in Anglo through the use of Contracts for Difference (CFDS) “he [Sean Quinn] didn’t get advice and he will tell you that himself” Now although David is talking about the use of CFDs, Sean Quinn has a different take on his disastrous stakeholding in Anglo – in his recent statement announcing his bankruptcy in Belfast, Sean Quinn said “recent history has shown that I, like thousands of others in Ireland, incorrectly relied upon the persons who guided Anglo and who wrongfully sought to portray a ‘blue chip’ Irish Banking stock” But as far as David is concerned “we got this additional spot light on us because of the Quinn perceived vulnerability and the hedge funds in London rightly took a view that if you push, push, push this guy maybe his stock will be sold, the bank will collapse and they get like a payday. He fashioned a rod for his own back and ergo our back, the bank’s back”
(e) Sean Fitzpatrick’s loans. This looks like dynamite and I reproduce the relevant passage from the interview “Sean Fitzpatrick’s loans were not hidden in any way within the bank and they were on the central bank returns. When the financial regulator went into Irish Nationwide, it would have been late 2007. They found Sean’s loans sitting there. When they came back to the bank in December of 07, spoke to Willy McAteer about the loans, he was the finance director and said to Willy what is the story with these loans. Willy went and spoke to the chairman and said yeah he had discreet finance with him temporarily with Irish Nationwide. The first question they asked Willy was ‘is that reciprocal?, is Sean Fitzpatrick doing it for Michael Fingleton?’ The answer was no. The second question was are there any Companies Act implications, legal issues? So Willy went to out external council and got a legal opinion that it was not… And then their third and last question was, ‘what are you going to do about it?’ and Willy went to Sean and Sean said well I am actually refinancing with the Bank of Ireland, which he was, that’s actually very true. He was in the process of taking all the loans and getting them away to BOI and they said fine and dropped it.”
(f) David Drumm’s loans from Anglo. David says he borrowed the money from Anglo to buy shares in Anglo at the request of Anglo, so as to demonstrate confidence in the bank. He blames the current Anglo or IBRC CEO Mike Aynsley for pursuing him relentlessly for the repayment of the loans and David is bitter about this saying in the interview “it was outrageous to call it in because first of all a bank operating properly would never do that and B they had a contract with me, not to do that in the long term plan.” David claims that the assets he was prepared to hand over to Anglo in settlement of the €8-9m of loans were worth USD 10m (€7.6m) but David claims “they couldn’t possible settle, it took me a while to accept that” implying there was a get-David-at-all-costs, politically supported approach by Anglo. In respect of the enormous costs being racked up by Anglo in pursuit of David which David claims are in the millions, David says “if my case is indicative of how they [Anglo’s management] are being measured, taxpayers’ money is being absolutely destroyed there, day by day by day”
(g) David Drumm’s future. According to David he has an employment visa which entitles him to US residency, not an investment visa “contrary to what they report in the media, so the visa is not the issue”. He wants to stay in the US where he sees opportunities. He complains about media intrusion and literally parking outside his home for days on end. He claims he has moved his two girls to different schools to escape media attention. There is no mention of the serious allegations of fraud made by Anglo or the CARB disciplinary proceedings or the ODCE investigation, but he does make what seems like a sensible point that you wouldn’t want to expose yourself and your family to what would almost definitely await David if he returned to Ireland, unless you had no other choice.
There is a feature entry on David Drumm’s bankruptcy here.
UPDATE: 28th November, 2011. Laura Noonan at the Irish Independent reports that there has been a response from unidentified “sources close to the bank [Anglo]” to the 10,000-word David Drumm interview. These unidentified sources dismiss David’s claims that reckless lending was not the cause of Anglo’s collapse as “ridiculous”. Presumably these unidentified sources are not working for PwC which certified the loan valuations at the end of 2008, or Donal O’Connor and Lars Bradshaw which checked PwC’s work. Or auditors Ernst and Young who signed off the 2008 accounts after presumably sample checking loans and loan documentation. There has been no response from Government which according to the Drumm interview seems to have been at the heart of the Maple 10 transaction. Maybe we might get an attributed comment later in the day. The Independent does say that it “understands that Anglo would have recouped more from that settlement than the net proceeds the bank expects to get from drawn out bankruptcy proceedings in the United States.” Why would a company which we as a nation own 100% take such an uneconomic decision?
Respondeat superior
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/_/dict.aspx?word=Respondeat+superior
g) David Drumm’s future. According to David he has an employment visa….
No immigration lawyer,but the only one I have ever come across is a L1.
Say you were fired or company goes BK,visa goes too !!
‘The United States L1 visa is a non-immigrant visa which allows companies operating both in the US and abroad to transfer certain classes of employee from its foreign operations to the USA operations for up to seven years. The employee must have worked for a subsidiary, parent, affiliate or branch office of your US company outside of the US for at least one year out of the last three years.
http://www.workpermit.com/us/us_l1.htm
The only other ‘work’ visa is typically used by ehmm fashion models !!!!
This visa category applies to people who wish to perform services in a specialty occupation, services of exceptional merit and ability relating to a Department of Defense (DOD) cooperative research and development project, or services as a fashion model of distinguished merit or ability.
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=73566811264a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=73566811264a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD
@john gallaher, Nice point of law, John. I wondered when David would start to talk. He has been very silent in the media war to date and has allowed Anglo and the DoF to gain the upper hand and dictate the “spin”. I have always found him to be accessible and indeed enjoyed his company many times when I travel through Boston. It’s time that he fought back and told the real story. Hopefully, like most septic ponds the real sh*t, at some point, will float to the surface.
@wstt getting Cadiff out of the country appears to be a top priority !
There’s also an H1B, John, but you need a sponsor (shouldn’t be a problem for him).
http://www.h1base.com/content/h1bvisa
The H1B Visa is the primary US work visa / permit made available to people from all over the world.
The US Government introduced the H1B visa program to offer and enable skilled International Professionals and/or International Students, from all over the World, the opportunity to live and work in the USA.
The H1B is the most popular and sought after US work visa and US Immigration requires ‘every’ foreign national to obtain a visa in order to legally work in America.
One of the main advantages of the H1B visa is that it is a ‘dual intent’ visa which means that you can apply for a Green Card (Legal Permanent Residency).
@wstt excellent point,won’t argue actually agree that he is being hounded.
May have been informed,advised,overheard in a bar,that he was self employed as consultant !
But will leave it.
@wstt apologies but just to clarify,and actually it’s a bit scurrilous to speculate,on someone’s work status.
But so that readers are not misinformed,or book any one way flights!
The H1 is like the ‘holy grail’ the US company must advertise the position,and demonstrate/prove that a US resident can’t fill the role .
With the ‘street’ the way it is these days,chances of financial types getting one are slim.
L1 which is key employee transfer is most followed route
H1B Speciality Occupation Visas
Description:
This is a visa for people coming to the USA to work for a US employer in a professional-level position. Valid for 3 years initially, can be extended to 6.
Candidate Requirements:
Candidate must have secured job offer from a US source.
http://www.workpermit.com/us/employee.htm#UScandH1B
In order to get an H1B visa you will need the equivalent of a US college or university degree in a relevant subject.
A bit rich to listen to Willie O’Dea, who voted for the blanket guarantee without question, giving his “legal” opinion on the Marian Finnucane Show about Drumm. Spouting his usual garbage but nobody there with either the wit or knowledge to take him on.
To repost some of what I said on the IE blog here:
The interview is riddled with dubious, self serving, and outright incorrect statements from Drumm from start to finish. Starting from the:
Drumm is either being disingenuous, or is trying for a “complete incompetent” defence. Actually, this may not be far off the mark as later we have
Wow, it’s like Niall O’Dowd thinks the incompetence defence is the way to go too. Our poor buachaill David, pushed around and bullied by that mean Goliath Sean Fitzpatrick, barely able to do enough to justify his €2 million salary. The poor creator.
I don’t find this attempt to offload responsibility very compelling.
I also found it incredulous that Anglo Irish was unaware that Sean Quinn held a 25% stake in the bank, even more so since Quinn was so candid about it when asked. There’s more besides
How convenient–for all involved:
Sean Quinn’s “innocent” purchase of Anglo shares–enough to spark a regulatory investigation–went unnoticed by everyone in the bank and on the board. And it was his equally innocent–and only incidentally highly convoluted–manner of purchasing of the shares which caused such unfortunate instability in Anglo’s share price. And naturally, the savvy Sean Quinn of course did not take any advice before embarking on a complicated financial brokerage scheme to purchase a 25% share in billion euro bank–I mean who would!!?
I find all of this incredulous. Totally incredulous. I find it also incredulous that the interviewer found it credulous enough to pass without further questions. Niall O’Dowd allowed Mr. Drumm to get away with extrications aplenty in this article, but here also allowed Anglo Irish bank and Sean Quinn in particular to come away with a printed excuse for their behaviour in what is easily one of the dodgiest deals ever done in Irish finance. Who is Niall O’Dowd again?
@OMF, there is a slight disconnect between the two quotes from David
DD: Ireland had a 15-year boom, unprecedented and the Celtic Tiger. There wasn’t a person in Ireland in 2005/06/07, not a person, who did not believe Ireland would just rage on for decades.
and
DD: The Celtic Tiger. Any one institution that would have had the brilliance to step out and say ‘you know what we think this is actually a bit of a mad bubble and we are going to stop’ would have been ridiculed.
No Irish media saw it coming. People like the guy in UCD saw it coming and very, very skillfully so. Nobody else saw it coming. The Irish media cheered it on. The bank was doing so well, they couldn’t say enough good things about us. Oliver Wyman (Global consulting group) in 2007 reviewed the bank and listed us in an international report as the best performing bank in the world, that was in 2006. Oliver Wyman! So everyone was caught up in that thing.
I don’t think it’s accurate to say “not a person” in Ireland doubted the boom would continue. But I think it was accurate that the vast majority in the “establishment” – govt, regulator, banks, industry, media, ESRI and “tied” economists thought that at worst we would have a soft landing.
NOD: Looking back what could have been done differently?
DD: Oh…(laughs), how broad do you want to be? The group think in 2004 could have been like ‘you know what maybe we are in a bubble’.
@OMF, To me, it has the ring of truth. Why lie? I remember a barrister in the High Court telling Judge Kelly, that it was inconceivable that the bank did things that people were claiming it did….Er, No, it wasn’t at all inconceivable. And the half of it hasn’t surfaced yet.
I don’t think that David Drumm is trying to say that he was either stupid or incompetent. He has decided that he will not be the patsy or scapegoat here and will tell it like it was and who knew what. Something that the powers-that-be want brushed under the carpet.
I hope that he tells all.
Because the facts of this matter are worth €2.8 billion between the parties involved. People have been known to mislead the house for less.
Personally, I found the most interesting and unsettling part of the interview to be the passages concerning the behaviour of the central bank during the Lehman crisis
This is sober stuff to read, all the more so in the current unstable and uncertain situation in Europe. If the Irish central bank is called upon to act decisively in the coming weeks or months, these words do not inspire confidence in that institution.
Who’s willing to bet now that the ICB has printed a set of “just in case” reserve Punt-Nua notes?
The above leads into what has to be the most unbelievable part of the entire peice: the parts concerning the bank guarantee.
I don’t believe a word of it. The Central bank was in the process of OK’ing an emergency loan to Anglo on the evening of the guarantee, had essentially OK’ed it, and Anglo wasn’t asking to be placed in the guarantee?
In short, if Drumm is correct here and if Anglo was already being given emergency liquidity support then why was it included in the guarantee?
More to the point, why would BoI or AIB talk the government into guaranteeing a bank that they had turned down on that very same day.
Was the whole thing really this chaotic? Was the only person who actually had a plan that day Brian Cowen when the roared that Anglo was not being let go? And if so, why was he so adamant on Anglo if the bank was being given emergency liquidity anyway?
The whole thing reeks to heaven. We’re never going to get answers from half stuttered interviews like this one. We need a full, comprehensive and complete inquiry into the bank guarantee and how it was decided. Unfortunately thanks to eight certain banking interests, we’re never going to get that.
@OMF, It is not worth €2.8 billion to David Drumm. But he is the patsy in this. (Wonder if that word has its genesis in Ireland – like “Paddy Wagon”). He has kept his silence for two years. Speaking out now is not self-serving as the spin doctors would like you to believe. The establishment including the FF political elite need to discredit him. It’s time he told it like it happened – and the rest of the cover up and how the bank functioned, as well.
And, BTW, would you return home to take the perp walk and put your family through the humiliation that the DoF want to inflict on him and them, or would you do it the American way and sent in a few Exocets and drones from a safe distance?
@OMF, We agree on one thing. You will never get your enquiry into the Bank Guarantee.
But David is telling you that there is a paper trail, including a draft of a letter from the Central Bank. What’s not to believe then if Anglo was not represented further at meetings that decided to issue a guarantee above its head? He has claimed it – ask those that attended the meeting if he is lying.
@omf “Drumm is either being disingenuous, or is trying for a “complete incompetent” defence. Actually, this may not be far off the mark as later we have….
Defense against what,time to put up or shut up boys,charge him,but stop acting like a jilted girlfriend!
How can we charge him if he and others can withhold documentation and evidence from all investigations and inquiries. If they can flee to foreign jurisdictions to escape such inquiries.
And by the way, we’re acting like mugging victims.
@OMF, since when did we start expecting criminals to offer up all the evidence they have so that they can be charged? Now David Drumm is not a criminal but why do people think he would volunteer information which might see him pursued by Gardai, Anglo, the Govt or others? That David Drumm should be a saint and ignore his own and his family’s needs just to satisfy a need in Ireland to understand the detail of various transactions?
If there’s enough to seek extradition from the US then that should be pursued, but if there isn’t and nearly three years after the investigations started, it doesn’t look like there is anything obvious to charge David with, then who can blame him for not hopping on an Aer Lingus flight from Boston so that he could see the welcome that awaits him?
@OMF tried to give you a road map above ….
If they “had” anything he would either voluntarily return or be extradited.
Whats that Jack Nicholson line mobile apologies,appears to me the powers that be have decided “You Cant Handle The Truth”……
@OMF you are completely on the “money” regarding central bank.
The ” tipping point” was a year before Lehman,widely accepted no arguments,the collapse of two highly leveraged Bear funds was the start.Everyone at that point strapped on a parachute,rushed into cash,stocked up the wine cellar !
“The hedge funds, which filed for bankruptcy in July 2007, were the Bear Stearns High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Master Fund Ltd. and the Bear Stearns High- Grade Structured Credit Strategies Master Fund Ltd”
That the central bank was unaware of the credit markets freezing up is as incompetent as any other event.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-09-09/ex-bear-stearns-fund-managers-sec-trial-set-for-february.html
Amazon.com: Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System—and Themselves (9780670021253): Andrew Ross Sorkin: Books
@JG
there was a period right after Bear Stearns when RTE had a story about plane loads of Irish shopping in New York. The story on the Irish side was that Americans were broke and the shoe was now on the other foot. The story on the US side was, ‘hey don’t close up shop yet, here comes a plane load of Irish who haven’t heard about the global downturn yet.’
I’m not even being sarcastic, there was a scene where they mocked a street person who was overjoyed at having recieved Euro one to one for his Dollar.
In hindsight, he might have been the smart one, maybe he dressed down for the day and followed the plane load of Irish, which probably contained some Bankers. When they left, back to work he went, at WFB or whoever…
@SF NWL linked/referenced a clip that was on the Jon Stewart show,regarding the free spending habits of the Irish in NY.
Lehman was widely signposted,the Fed. allowed anyone paying attention to get put of the way.
Perhaps some of the central bankers were just too busy,to notice massive wild swings in ALL major markets……..but Lehman filling was definitely not the ‘start’.
Fail to prepare,prepare to fail,
Roy Keane.
If David Drumm’s allegations are correct – and I believe them- there is no way Kevin Cardiff should be sent to Europe. He will only have to resign at some point in the future causing further embarrassment to our pitiful little Statelet.
This interview is just the tip of the iceberg.
No reason to,not currently facing any charges,hardly trying to influence the “debate”.
He has been hung drawn and quavered in the court of public opinion.
Perhaps a warning shot across the bow,to let sleeping dogs lie!!
Linked the Lehman report,its a good read.
Regarding the many ill-informed “opinions” on Sean Quinn,the following may be of interest.
“The business decisions that brought Lehman to its crisis of confidence may have been in error but were largely within the business judgment rule.”
Interesting who refused…..
In all, more than 250 individuals were interviewed:
“There was only one individual the Examiner sought to interview but could not. The Examiner requested an interview with Hector Sants, chief executive of the UK’s Financial Services Authority (“FSA”), to discuss the FSA’s involvement in the events of Lehman Weekend and the Barclays transaction. The FSA considered the request, but did not make Mr. Sants available for an interview. However, the FSA did provide detailed, written answers to specific questions that would have been posed to Mr. Sants.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/11/lehman-bankruptcy-report_n_495668.html
http://lehmanreport.jenner.com/
For “Conn Horgan” read “Con Horan”, I suggest.
The “revelation” about 25% recourse for the Maple loans is not a new revelation at all.
I would refer readers to the Irisheconomy.ie site on this story, and in particular to my own comments there http://bit.ly/uCVWfj
@Fergus, you could well be right. Niall O’Dowd refers to a “John Carney” who can surely only be “John Hurley”. If you are right and it is Con Horan who was Prudential Director in charge of bank regulation under Patrick Neary (the Financial Regulator) who has moved to the European Banking Authority in London (remember these were the bright folks who said in July that European banks needed €2.5bn of additional capital – oh, how we laughed when one week later, just one Spanish bank needed twice that in new capital and liquidity), then that would only add icing to the disparity in treatment of the parties to the financial disaster.
John Hurley retired with a bounteous pension, ditto Patrick Neary and Con Horan was given what Cormac Lucey calls a “plum London job”
http://cormaclucey.blogspot.com/2011/04/con-horans-plum-london-job.html
If you were David Drumm, then you probably wouldn’t feel very good about being one of the few singled out for blame when so many others have the Life of Riley.
Your link above is dead and doesn’t work. It would be helpful if there was previous reference to a 25% recourse to provide a link or source.
The link works fine for me – anyone else having a problem ? (It’s to the irisheconomy.ie)
I can’t find an online source for the 25% recourse, but it’s in Carswell’s book (bottom of page179), and I am pretty sure that I did not learn of it from that. I’ve lent my copy of “The FitzPatrick Tapes”, so I can’t consult it, but I am pretty sure that I knew even before that. My recollection is that it was part of the original story.
It is interesting to note the comments here that are supportive of Drumm.
I remember the coverage when he was appointed as Anglo Irish Bank’s CEO and there were questions in the media at that time as to why he was being appointed to the role.
Drumm “the patsy”? I’m not sure that I agree with that description.
I would have said that Drumm was more than willing to do the bidding of his masters (apologies for that poor pun).
@GD A bit of a “witch trial” element to it all.
“The episode is one of the most famous cases of mass hysteria, and has been used in political rhetoric and popular literature as a vivid cautionary tale about the dangers of isolationism, religious extremism, false accusations and lapses in due process”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials
@GD, “Patsy”, “Fall Guy” Call it what you will. He has been chosen to take the blame, to allow the civil servants and the politicians to walk free to their retirement cheques or plum jobs elsewhere. The truth is that the mess we are in was not the fault of one person, it was because of a series of incompetent decisions from several different regulators, politicians, bankers etc. who had not got a clue about what was happening and how to solve it. Completely out of their depth.
@FOR there is a website called that?
Why……
You are referencing the proverbial 800 lb Gorilla here .
John
I don’t think that I understand. Are you saying that the short link does not work for you ?
Here’s the long one, just in case
http://www.irisheconomy.ie/index.php/2011/11/27/david-drumm-interview
Not sure which of the many 800 lb gorillas you have in mind
WSTT : we should have accountability for all those who are party to this mess. But because some other parties are not being held accountable, does that mean Drumm shouldn’t be held accountable?
I’ll take whatever accountability is on offer at this stage.
Mr Drumm’s interview is self serving and myopic. The degree of flouting of corporate governance within Anglo in which at best he colluded, if not (allegedly) instigated, and the insistence that there was only a liquidity problem is staggering. He is faithful to the picture of him painted in Anglo Republic.
Say it often enough and it will become true. In the end the politicians and bankers will end up blaming the civil servants, who should not have given the advice they gave or done their master’s biding!!!
The reports of PWC and O’Connor at the end of 2008 as to the adequacy of provisions by which Drumm illustrates the non-solvency issue is astounding as at that time the LTV ratios in Anglo for properties had declined between 30% to 40% in the space of a year (Jones Lang property indices).
Anglo had obviously got executives who could not add and divide … most covenants would be breached by such property value falls. In fact the NAMA discounts for Anglo look very fair in retrospect!!
Drumm’s biggest problem is he ran. And, as the famous heavyweight, Joe Louis said, “you can run but you can’t hide”. Many boxers tried to run away from Joe Louis but they could not hide in that very small ring.
@FOR thank you for that,the link is working fine.
The recourse or not element has been subject of much speculation and allegations,denials,etc.
@JW, Tell me where he could have got a job in Ireland? If there is a case against him then the DPP and the government should “put up, or shut up”. He has every right to seek employment in the USA. As for hiding…. he is in plain sight, if the DPP has a case. Otherwise it is a witch-hunt as John Gallaher says and trial by the media who would love to see him take a “perp walk” along the Liffey Quays so they could film him. He’s right to give them the finger.
Conn Horgan could it be Conor Horgan?
mentioned here in list C (so unlikely)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/29246431/Certificate
@DKM, thanks for that, an interesting list of Anglo’s authorised signatories. But I think you’re right, I don’t think the interview refers to Conor Horgan but to Conn Horan.