Aviation tycoon says 'golden circle' should be proud of their Anglo deal
Friday February 20 2009
ANGLO's 'golden circle' should be "proud of what they did" and have no reason to hide their identities, businessman Ulick McEvaddy said yesterday.
The aviation tycoon also claimed he would have "absolutely" gotten involved if he'd been offered the chance to be a part of the €300m controversial deal.
The comments come as the Government faces mounting pressure to name the 10 people who secured funding from Anglo to scoop up 10pc of the bank's own shares last summer.
Addressing accountants' body the ACCA yesterday, Mr McEvaddy also mounted a spirited defence of Ireland's banks and bankers, warning Ireland would "go down the tubes" if the country didn't stop "vilifying" the bankers who were "the architects of the Celtic Tiger". Mr McEvaddy lamented the fact that he "didn't get the phone call" to "support the bank" and join Anglo's golden circle.
"Anglo is a great bank and I make no hesitation in saying I would have supported it in a heartbeat," he told the Irish Independent after his lecture. "If I had, I'd put my hand up in a heartbeat and say 'yes, I supported Anglo'.
"They [the golden 10] haven't done anything wrong. They should be proud of what they did because they were supporting the bank in its hour of need, and it probably supported them in their hour of need.
"Why would you hide it?"
He also warned that Ireland was going to "lose all the talent" in the banking sector if the culture of resignations continues.
"[Anglo chairman] Sean FitzPatrick was a great banker but he had to go because he concealed loans," he said. "Now we're looking for heads all over the place and we're going to lose all our best bankers and bring guys who know nothing about the loan book."
Speaking to the accountants in the morning, Mr McEvaddy heaped praise on newly nationalised Anglo and newly recapitalised Bank of Ireland and AIB.
"They built up the Irish economy, they were the architects of the Celtic Tiger, and they are being vilified by the media," he said. "We must change this otherwise this country will go down the tubes."
Mr McEvaddy also called on all politicians to put party differences aside and fight for the economy, and on the media to avoid "talking us into a worse recession than we're in".
Economic war
"This is an economic war. The next stage of this war will be social disorder if we don't cop on and stop what's happening today."
Mr McEvaddy told his audience that the situation with Irish banks could be likened to a swingers' party. "Imagine you're at one of those parties and there's 40 couples and, going in the door, they tell you two of the couples have AIDS but they don't tell you which two," he said. "Do you think there'd be much action at that party? That's what's happening at the banks because no one knows where the toxic assets are."
- Laura Noonan
