Ex-Anglo official's position 'fortified', say lawyers

An ex-Anglo Irish Bank official jailed for conspiring to conceal bank accounts from the Revenue Commissioners will make a renewed bail application next month pending the outcome of his appeal in January.

Ex-Anglo official's position 'fortified', say lawyers

An ex-Anglo Irish Bank official jailed for conspiring to conceal bank accounts from the Revenue Commissioners will make a renewed bail application next month pending the outcome of his appeal in January.

Bernard Daly (aged 67), of Collins Avenue West, Whitehall, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to furnishing false information and conspiring to defraud the Revenue Commissioners as well as conspring to delete accounts from the bank's internal system.

He was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to two years imprisonment by Judge Patrick McCartan on July 31 last.

Lawyer's for Daly, who was the bank's former company secretary, told the Court of Appeal earlier this month that his trial was unfair from beginning to end.

Although his bail application did not succeed, his lawyers told the Court of Appeal today that his position has since been “fortified” by the availability of the trial transcript which was not available earlier this month.

Of the seven grounds advanced by Daly's lawyers, Mr Justice George Birmingham said the argument which “came closest” to meeting the threshold required for bail was in relation to an accomplice warning.

Such a warning was given to the jury, Mr Justice Birmingham said, in respect of a conversation Daly was said to have had with the bank's head of compliance - a Mr Gillespie.

During the trial, Mr Gillespie described a conversation in which Daly asked if he could delete a name from the list to be provided to the authorities and Mr Gillespie said: 'No'.

The trial judge warned the jury of the need for caution in relation to Mr Gillespies evidence but that was not enough according to Daly's lawyers, Mr Justice Birmingham said.

Counsel for Daly, Seán Guerin SC, said the warning was meaningless and the trial judge never told the jury of the dangers of convicting on evidence given by an accomplice.

The prosecution said there was no evidence at all that Mr Gillespie was an accomplice and that all the evidence went the other way.

Mr Justice George Birmingham, who sat with Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan and Mr Justice Alan Mahon, said the threshold required for admitting Daly to bail had not been met.

However, the substance or otherwise of the point could only be determined by careful consideration of the transcript – which was not yet available – and the three-judge court did not rule out a fresh bail application when the transcipt of the trial becomes available.

During case management procedures in the Court of Appeal today, Mr Guerin told Mr Justice Birmingham that the transcript was now available and some extracts “fortified” his position.

Mr Justice Birmingham said the three judges which dealt with Daly's initial bail application were sitting together again on November 3 and the court fixed Daly's renewed bail application for that date.

Daly's co-accused, Tiarnan O'Mahoney (aged 56), of Glen Pines, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, was also due to apply for bail along with Daly pending his appeal but adjourned his bid until the transcripts became available.

Aoife Maguire (aged 62), of Rothe Abbey, South Circular Road, Kilmainham, Dublin, has not sought bail but was given a priority hearing date of December 23 next for her appeal against sentence.

Maguire, a former assistant manager in the bank, had denied conspiring to delete bank accounts connected to Mr Seán Fitzpatrick from the bank's internal system and conspiring to defraud the Revenue Commissioners on dates in 2003 and 2004.

O'Mahoney, the bank's former chief operations officer, had denied knowingly furnishing false information to the Revenue, conspiring to have accounts deleted from the bank's internal system and conspiring to defraud the Revenue.

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