The head of the bank that almost bankrupted Ireland has been granted bail under strict conditions including the surrender of his passport and having to report to police twice a day.
David Drumm appeared in Dublin district court on Monday morning to face 33 charges relating to the now defunct Anglo Irish Bank.
Drumm fought a four-month battle against extradition from the US to Ireland. He dropped his legal challenge against extradition in February.
Within hours of Drumm arriving back in Dublin from Boston, the 49-year-old former chief executive of the bank was formally charged at Ballymun Garda station in the north of the city.
Drumm was accused of forgery and false accounting for loans in 2008 designed to rescue Anglo Irish Bank’s share price. The Dublin-born banker denies any wrongdoing. The charges carry prison sentences ranging from five years to an unlimited term.
In 2009 Anglo Irish Bank was nationalised, with the Irish taxpayer having to pay €30bn (£23bn) to rescue a financial institution that was once the preferred bank of builders and property speculators.
During the hearing, which began at 11am on Monday, the Garda Síochána said they opposed bail due to, they said, Drumm being a flight risk and due to the seriousness of the charges and potential penalties.
But court judge Michael Walsh agreed to bail once Drumm surrendered his Irish passport and gave assurances he did not possess a US one. He was also ordered to sign on twice a day in Balbriggan Garda station in north county Dublin.
The judge instructed Drumm to offer up two independent sureties of €50,000 each; €25,000 must be lodged in cash and the other €25,000 must be shown in a bank account.
After the bank bailout Drumm left Ireland for the US and refused repeated requests to come home and be questioned over the bank’s affairs.
During the extradition hearing Drumm was moved from his home in an upmarket area of Boston to the Plymouth county correctional centre which his lawyers described as “unrelentingly harsh” and “uncomfortable”.
After the rescue of Anglo Irish Bank, it was nationalised and renamed the Irish Banking Resolution Corporation.
The sharp practices at the bank during the Celtic boom, when it became the major financier for over-stretched Irish developers and investors playing the global property market, caused national outrage in Ireland.
