Criminal investigations could be launched on foot of new evidence revealed in the Anglo Irish Bank tapes.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is understood to be close to making a decision as to whether U.S.-based former Anglo Irish Bank boss David Drumm will face criminal charges in Ireland.
The DPP's decision on Drumm will be made following a thorough study of a file first sent to
the Gardai (police) 18 months ago.
However, to date Gardai have been powerless to take action against Drumm, who now lives in
the U.S., because legislation in Ireland dictates that authorities cannot seek his extradition from another jurisdiction to face questioning about a suspected crime.
However, pressure is mounting by the day on Drumm to return to Ireland from his U.S. hideaway.
On Monday, Finance Minister Michael Noonan called on Drumm to come back to Ireland to cooperate with a proposed parliamentary inquiry which is based upon new legislation currently passing through the Dail (Irish Parliament).
The latest revelations follow an exclusive interview Drumm gave to Irish Voice /IrishCentral publisher Niall O’Dowd in which he said he accepted the "tone and language" used in the tapes were inappropriate.
But he said he expected the media focus to shift from the recordings, which were first published in the Irish Independent, to the events surrounding the disastrous government guarantee which he insists must be explained if people are to learn the whole truth about that
period.
He said he sees the selective leaking of the tapes as a clear attempt to link the shamed financial institution to the creation of the guarantee.
But he stressed he wants everyone involved in the disastrous sequence of events at the time, including other banks, to receive the same scrutiny as he and his bank already have.
It has since emerged that the U.S. firm set up by Drumm has been dissolved after he failed to file any company records over the past two years.
The shamed former bank chief established the company, Delta Corporate Finance LLC, in 2009 as part of his bid to get a visa that would allow him to work and live in the U.S.
However, it has been revealed that the company, which he set up a month after departing Anglo, has now been shut down by authorities in Massachusetts.
Meanwhile, in his first public comments on the damning revelations in the tapes, IrishCentral
Bank Governor Patrick Honohan said the regulator was examining whether Anglo Irish Bank "deliberately misrepresented" the position of the bank when it sought taxpayer support in 2008.
“There is one element in what has been disclosed in these tapes which alerts us at the Central Bank to the dimension which we had not been aware of and which we think needs further scrutiny,” he said.
"That is the indications that Anglo Irish Bank was deliberately misrepresenting the position of the bank with a view to accessing financial support from the Central Bank.
"So this is worse in the sense that we knew they were looking for support, but we did not know they felt their situation was much worse than when they communicating to the bank."
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