The prosecution in the trial of three former Anglo Irish Bank executives has warned the jury that some witnesses come to court 'not to tell the truth'.
In his final address, Paul O'Higgins SC has said it is the State's case that loans issued by the bank in July 2008 to the family of businessman Sean Quinn and the so-called Maple Ten to buy Anglo shares were 'specially conditioned' and not in the ordinary course of business.
The bank's former Chairman Sean FitzPatrick (65), along with former directors Willie McAteer (63) and Pat Whelan (51) deny breaching Section 60 of the Companies Act by allowing unlawful financial assistance to be provided for the purchase of the bank's shares in July 2008.
Mr. O'Higgins will conclude his speech tomorrow and then the jury will hear from the defence teams and Judge Martin Nolan before starting their deliberations, probably early next week.
This afternoon Mr. O' Higgins claimed Mr. McAteer, the bank's former Finance Director, and Mr. Whelan, former head of lending for Ireland, were 'directly instrumental' in carrying out the lending 'themselves or through other people'.
The prosecution alleges Mr. FitzPatrick knew about the lending and what it was for, and did not 'take any step that might prevent it'.
'Nobody is obliged to be a director of a company' which is a 'privilege' that comes with responsibilities, he said.
The jury has heard evidence the purpose of the Maple transaction was to dilute the 29% stake that former billionaire Sean Quinn had secretly built up the bank using a financial derivative called Contracts for Difference (CFDs), over concerns his position was destabilising the bank.
Acquitted on some charges
'What was done was expressly to make sure that the share price would not reflect what had happened in the market. This was fundamentally fully against the purpose of S60', said Mr. O' Higgins.
He said whether or not the Financial Regulator knew or was comfortable with the lending is completely irrelevant to the jury's considerations.
He also said the fact that former Anglo executives Fiachre O'Neill and Matt Moran have been given immunity from any potential prosecution is irrelevant.
In the course of his final address, which he will conclude tomorrow, Mr. O'Higgins warned that 'witnesses do come in to court not to tell the truth at times' and that the jury must consider this when reviewing their evidence.
Those members of the Maple Ten are people who have for 'many, many years done business with the bank' and they were described by Mr. Whelan as 'ten heroes', he said.
He claims the Quinns came with an agenda because they have issues in relation to Anglo or people in Anglo.
'None of these people are singing from a prosecution hymn sheet or even from the same hymn sheet as each other' Mr. O'Higgins said.
Earlier Judge Martin Nolan directed that Pat Whelan and Sean FitzPatrick were to be acquitted on some of the charges.
Referring to the judge's directions, Mr. O'Higgins said 'there is no evidence Sean FitzPatrick 'actually knew about the lending to the Quinns'.
