The former Finance Director of Anglo Irish Bank Willie McAteer and its head of lending in Ireland Pat Whelan were yesterday found guilty of providing €450 million worth of illegal loans to the Maple ten to buy Anglo shares in July 2008.
The bank's former chairman Sean FitzPatrick was acquitted on all charges against him on Wednesday.
Preparations for a politician-led inquiry into Ireland's banking crash were low-key while court proceedings were underway.
The next step is for the government to issue a request to the Houses of the Oireachtas on the mandate, timing and framework of their investigation.
Political sources have told the Irish Times that this is to be done 'very quickly after Easter'.
Finance Committee Chairperson Ciarán Lynch says there is still a lot of work to be done before the start of the inquiry.
But he told Newstalk Breakfast it is on track to begin before the end of 2014.
Meanwhile, the sentence hearing of former Anglo Irish Bank directors Pat Whelan and Willie McAteer will take place on April 28th. following their conviction on charges of providing illegal lending to the Maple Ten for a share support scheme.
The jury found former Director of Finance Mr. McAteer and former head of Irish lending Mr. Whelan guilty of providing illegal loans to ten individuals to buy shares in the bank. The jury acquitted them of six charges each of lending money to the Quinn family
The jury returned the final verdicts after 16 hours and 53 minutes of deliberation over five days. Their co-accused, former Anglo Chairman Sean FitzPatrick, was acquitted on all ten charges against him on Wednesday.
The men made no reaction as the verdicts were read out. All guilty verdicts were unanimous.
More on Anglo - including timelines, what the jury did not hear & background on the Maple Ten:
Revealed: The Anglo arguments the jury did not hear
David Drumm - the 'author' of the Maple transaction
From boom to bust: the Anglo timeline
