FORMER ANGLO Irish Bank chairman Seán FitzPatrick borrowed at least €228 million in total from Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS) over the eight years he used loans from the building society to conceal his Anglo Irish borrowings.
Mr FitzPatrick’s loans from INBS increased significantly after he stepped down as chief executive of Anglo Irish in January 2005 and took over as chairman of the bank.
It is understood that his loans from the building society totalled €2.7 million in 1998, €3.4 million in 1999 and €5.6 million in 2000. They remained at this level for several years, standing at €5.6 million in 2003 and €5.8 million in 2004.
Mr FitzPatrick’s loans from INBS jumped to €29.6 million in 2005 and €53.2 million in 2006. The following year his INBS loans totalled €122 million, the figure disclosed by Anglo Irish last January as the amount concealed from the bank’s shareholders in 2007.
The loans from INBS were set up so his borrowings from the society would be repaid with lump-sum payments.
The loans were primarily categorised as commercial loans. Only a small number were listed as personal loans. All loans were issued by the building society’s head office on Grand Parade in Dublin.
Mr FitzPatrick resigned last December after it emerged that he had transferred multimillion euro loans from Anglo Irish off the bank’s books before the bank’s accounting year-end on September 30th over an eight-year period using short-term loans from INBS.
The Financial Regulator is still investigating the loan transfers.
All of his borrowings from INBS were drawn down between September 26th and 30th over the years from 1998 to 2007.
Most of the loans provided in 1999 and 2000 were for a term of a year, maturing before the end of September the following year. Mr FitzPatrick’s later borrowings from INBS between 2005 and 2007 were loan amounts for a term of one month.
A spokesman for INBS declined to make any comment on Mr FitzPatrick’s loans. Mr FitzPatrick had no comment, saying that he had been legally advised not to comment.
It’s understood his borrowings increased after he became chairman of Anglo as he pursued other interests and increased his personal investments after stepping down from his executive role at the bank.
Mr FitzPatrick’s loans in 2003 and 2004 were provided in sterling. Two dollar loans, for $26.8 million and $6.7 million, were drawn down by Mr FitzPatrick from the society in 2006.
Three loans in 2005 and 2006 totalling €58.9 million were secured on an undertaking from Anglo Irish, which the bank held in trust for the building society.
Some €121.6 million drawn from the building society on September 26th, 2007, were secured on Mr FitzPatrick’s 4.5 million shares in Anglo, which at the time were worth €55 million and properties owned by him.
Five loans – three in 1999 and one each in 2003 and 2004 – were secured on Mr FitzPatrick’s investments in the Clonmel, Kilkenny and Athlone shopping centres.
