Anglo bosses lavish €18k on Gannon
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Tuesday December 22 2009
Bosses at Anglo Irish Bank twice met developer Gerry Gannon in London spending around €2,000-a-head on entertainment to a total of £16,000 (€17,950).
A former senior lender, working for the bank in London, has claimed that Gannon and other developers were routinely catered for at substantial cost.
The "cosy" relationship meant that "10 or 20 clients could virtually ring up and get full approval over the phone because they were known to very senior executives in the bank", it was claimed.
The ex-employee, identified only as Peter, said: "Gerry Gannon had been entertained twice by the team in London and each meal had come to more than £16,000 for approximately eight to 10 people."
In return, developers were flying the senior bankers around in private jets and helicopters. "You had senior guys in the bank spending a lot of time with the Golden Circle or very successful developers. You know, if you mix with developers who are taking you around to sites in private jets, helicopters you start getting used to it," the whistleblower said.
"I believe that there was another occasion where this particular client had built the house of one of the senior executives in the bank and if he wanted X million pounds that day he would get it."
kdoyle@herald.ie
- Kevin Doyle
