Bank watchdog gets €630,000 secret payoff
Neary will also get €142,670 pension
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FORMER Financial Regulator Pat Neary retired with a secret €630,000 payoff, the Irish Independent can reveal.
He was given a special €202,000 payoff, plus a retirement lump sum of €428,000, according to terms disclosed by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan last night.
He is also still entitled to an annual pension of €142,670.
Mr Neary announced his departure at the beginning of the year, indicating he had waited until publication of a report into why he was unaware of huge loans by Anglo Irish Bank to its own chairman.
Former Anglo chief Sean FitzPatrick concealed €87m in loans, that he had taken out himself from the bank, from his shareholders. The loans were moved off the balance sheet each year to Irish Nationwide, so they would not appear in annual reports.
Mr Neary had no idea about the practice, even though it was discovered by staff at his own office early last year. He had to be informed of the massive loans by Mr Lenihan, who had discovered the loans himself as a result of Anglo's participation in the bank guarantee scheme last December.
Huge pressure was exerted on Mr Neary to resign after a storm broke over the revelations of the loans issue -- which also triggered a complete meltdown in the shares of all Irish banks last December.
Last night, as public anger mounted over bank executives receiving huge salaries while the taxpayer bails out their lending errors to the tune of €7bn, the extent of Mr Neary's goodbye money was revealed.
- He was on an annual salary of €285,341.
- He was paid an additional €202,000 handshake in return for his resignation -- equivalent to being paid for eight months.
- He was also paid a lump sum of €428,000.
- He will also receive an annual pension of €142,670.
The figures make clear a deal was done, whereas Mr Neary indicated he had taken his decision on formal publication of an internal report into the scandal, which confirmed huge operational and communications failures within his office. He then stood down, citing the need to uphold public confidence.
His resignation officially took effect at the end of last month.
But in his resignation statement, Mr Neary made no mention of the fact he would be paid for the outstanding time remaining on his contract.
Announcing his departure, he said: "I am proud of my distinguished career spanning almost 40 years as a public servant who acted at all times in the public interest."
Last night, however, Mr Lenihan revealed he had taken "independent legal advice" in relation to Mr Neary, who had two years left of his contract.
In a written parliamentary reply, Mr Lenihan said Mr Neary was appointed by "other members of that authority", with terms and conditions agreed between the two parties.
Mr Neary was not available for comment last night.
The Office of the Financial Regulator also declined to discuss the figures.
However, questions remain as to what the Financial Regulator was aware of at the end of September, as all the banks were required at the time to submit detailed daily reports on their cash positions as market volatility reigned.
- Senan Molony Deputy Political Editor
