Former Anglo bankers plead not guilty
Jury selection for the Anglo trial has now being completed with 15 jurors sworn in.
The three former bank executives are being arraigned on 16 counts of providing unlawful financial assistance to individuals in July 2008 to buy shares in Anglo.
Mr Fitzpatrick (aged 64) of Whitshed Road, Greystones, William McAteer (aged 62) of Auburn Villas, Rathgar and Pat Whelan (aged 50) of Coast Road, Malahide, stood side-by-side in the dock at the Circuit Criminal Court and answered "not guilty" as the charges were put to them.
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Judge Nolan excused 131 people from serving after they said they had an issue with being on the jury.
Two people were excused for being employed with banks and one person was excused for owning AIB shares.
The three accused men’s legal teams objected to 17 people in total while the prosecution objected to two people.
The entire process was completed in two hours, significantly earlier than expected.
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Judge Nolan has given the jurors one last warning not to investigate the case themselves or even to read up on it. He said he will consider it a breach of their oath if they do.
The 15 jurors have now been instructed to nominate a jury foreman. They will return on Wednesday morning for the first day of evidence in the trial.
The trial will sit every weekday from 10.30am to 4pm. Judge Nolan said this timetable will be “fairly strictly enforced.”
Each charge in the case relates to a specific person who allegedly received financial assistance between July 10 and July 17, 2008.
The 16 people named in the charges are Patricia Quinn, Sean Quinn Junior, Collete Marie Quinn, Aoife Quinn, Brenda Quinn, Ciara Quinn, Paddy McKillen, Séamus Ross, Brian O’Farrell, John McCabe, Gerard Maguire, Patrick Kearney, Gerard Conlon, Gerard Gannon, Seán Reilly and Joseph O’Reilly.
The charges relating to Patricia Quinn are alleged to have occurred between July 10 and July 18, 2008.
