Lenihan Lied on Anglo Credit Union Bondholder Claims - SBP

[C. Flower]

On numerous occasions I've heard Brian Lenihan say that the bondholders had to be protected by Guarantee as they included Credit Unions and Pension Funds.

On Page 2 of today's Sunday Business Post, Pat Leahy has a report that

"the organisation representing credit unions has said that it invested just 99 million in Anglo Irish bonds and has called on the government to "cease referring to these investments as justification for guarantees and the continuation of Anglo Irish Bank".

The Chief Executive of the Irish League of Credit Unions, Kieron Brennan, said "it as unwise and irresponsible" to suggest that Credit Unions had large investments in Anglo Irish.

"Brennan said that it was unfortunate that the credit unions were being used to justify arguments for government support for financial institutions." "The suggestion is that Anglo must be supported, as failure to do so would jeopardise large amounts of credit union investments" Brennan said. He added that this was not only untrue, but could have hte effect of undermining the confidence in credit unions.

The SPB confirms that Ministers and TDs have repeatedly cited large Credit Union bondholdings as a reason for the Banks Guarantee.

[MediaBite]

Pretty sure I remember Vincent Browne tackling Lenihan about this on his prog last year and having the impression that he was being less than forthright in his answer. Lenihan's ability to dissemble is breathtaking - he will say anything when being interviewed to get out a jam. Funily enough it's not a quality the press seem yet to have detected so he is getting away with it so far.

[C. Flower]

This goes to the heart of the Banks Guarantee. If Lenihan has lied about this, why should we believe anything he says about the Guarantee? He has set out to pull the strings of Irish voters who are on low incomes by talking about Credit Unions and Pensions to give the impression that he's looking after the "small man".

This is now proven to be a lie.

[Digger Out]

The problem with Lenihan is that no one can criticise him due to his illness and we all wish him well. But should he be in this position at all now ?

[C. Flower]

The problem with Lenihan is that no one can criticise him due to his illness and we all wish him well. But should he be in this position at all now ?

I beg to differ. He has chosen to stay on, and no one would have criticised him if he had retired or taken a break. One man's situation can't be used to create a screen behind which the entire country is broken up and sold for scrap.

[Digger Out]

I beg to differ. He has chosen to stay on, and no one would have criticised him if he had retired or taken a break. One man's situation can't be used to create a screen behind which the entire country is broken up and sold for scrap.


After he became Minister for Finmance he said he was unlucky to come in then. Do you think he made right decision on day of infamy- 28th. Sept. 2008 on guarantee, I do not. Is he correct about Anglo, I dont think so. He is not correct on this matter of credit unions. His first 2 budgets were a disaster. The problem as I say about him is that he has almost achieved sainthood, and no one can question him due to his illness. He is a barrister and did not have economic qualifications to make those judgement calls.

[C. Flower]

After he became Minister for Finmance he said he was unlucky to come in then. Do you think he made right decision on day of infamy- 28th. Sept. 2008 on guarantee, I do not. Is he correct about Anglo, I dont think so. He is not correct on this matter of credit unions. His first 2 budgets were a disaster. The problem as I say about him is that he has almost achieved sainthood, and no one can question him due to his illness. He is a barrister and did not have economic qualifications to make those judgement calls.

This issue of the Credit Unions is not that he made a bad judgement. Its that he has repeatedly misinformed the public/ lied to the public about the reason for his actions.

To make it worse, he's acted in a reckless way likely to damage the credibility and viability of the credit unions, which seem to be the most worthy and viable financial institutions that we have.

[C. Flower]

Does anyone recall if he lied to the Dail about this ? Are we still supposed to believe him that Pension funds were big investors in these bonds ?

[MPB]

It was a blatant attempt by Lenihan to associate ordinary people to a decision designed to bailout the elite.

They have been playing us along and using every trick in the book to camoulage the facts.

There one big hope is that they can fool the markets long enough, to give them time to use the public purse and the borrowing rights it gives them, to refund the losses made by their donors.

[C. Flower]

Also blatantly misleading. He has repeated this a number of times.

[C. Flower]

Lenihan spun this line to the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and Public Services Dail in relation to the draft NAMA legislation

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=FIJ20090831.xml&Ex=All&Page=2




It is important to note that the bulk of the bonds in issue by Irish banks are not subordinated debt but debt of a far more fundamental character. They are ordinary senior debt bonds entered into by the banks. There is a perception in the media that senior bondholders are natural risk takers, aiming to achieve high rewards for taking high risk. That is not the case. Senior bondholders are usually and typically pension funds, insurance companies and other long-term providers of debt. I have pointed out in recent days that they also include credit unions. These bondholders provide loans for viable entities on the basis that they are senior to other creditors and are secure. In other words, they are in the same position as depositors. These same senior bond debt investors also buy Government debt and are an important source for keeping the economy funded. These senior bondholders are guaranteed under the Government guarantee scheme. Any suggestion these parties should be invited to consider a reduction in the amount repayable to them would have catastrophic effects for the banking system, the funding of the State and the wider economy. Many of these senior bondholders are trading companies in Irish commercial life with substantial numbers of employees.



http://66.102.9.132/search?q=cache:f5DpUjPwwLMJ:www.nuigalway.ie/about-us/news-and-events/news.php%3Fp_id%3D1201+Brian+Lenihan+Bondholders+i nclude+Credit+Unions+and+Pension+Funds&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ie

Quinn ?

[MPB]

If they are considered to be in the same position as depositors, why would we bother guaranteeing them in full, considering when they invested, deposits were only guaranteed at up to 100k?

[MediaBite]

Interesting blog post and discussion by Brian Lucey on the general veractiy and trustworthiness of Lenihan's statements. Tangential to the credit union issue itself but relevant and important to it nevertheless?

http://www.irisheconomy.ie/index.php/2010/04/01/interview-with-brian-lenihan/

[C. Flower]

Interesting blog post and discussion by Brian Lucey on the general veractiy and trustworthiness of Lenihan's statements. Tangential to the credit union issue itself but relevant and important to it nevertheless?

http://www.irisheconomy.ie/index.php/2010/04/01/interview-with-brian-lenihan/

It is, and coincidentally, I was reading Lenihan's interview earlier today.

Brian Lucey used the word mendacious, in relation to the interview.

An extract from a comment was left by Hugh Sheehy...



It needs to become the absolute expectation from all sides that unless there is full transparency on what happened all through 2008, 2009 and 2010 that the public is entitled to assume that Lenihan, Cowen, Gormley, et al are deliberately, and with malice aforethought, defrauding the Irish people. Some of them might actually dream of having continued political careers, and clarifying that they’re not liars and thieves should surely be something they want to do to continue to receive mandate for public office.

Ultimately it’s in their hands to clarify that they have actually been acting in the public interest and not otherwise, but the pressure of “Show me” needs to be maintained and strengthened.

Show me the numbers.
Show me the books.
Show me the balance sheets over time, both what was thought at the time and what turned out to have been the case.
Show me the minutes of meetings.
Write down the “verbal advice” that was given.
They need to show me…..because if they don’t I have little choice except to continue to suspect that they’re all liars and thieves.
AFAIK under the new laws under consideration, if they broke into my house and stole money I’d be entitled to shoot them. If they’re going to take future education and food and clothes and wealth from me and my kids then they need to clarify that they’re not effectively stealing the money.
Meantime, God help me, the only politicians on TV saying things that appeal to my indignation are economic remedials like the Labour Party and (ehem) Joe Higgins. Now that’s really scary!

[DCon]

Fortygaffs was at it too.


Deputy Frank Fahey:
A central part of the Fine Gael plan is to set up legacy banks as a way to default on senior bond holders of Irish banks. The bulk of these senior bonds are held by pension funds, insurance companies and credit unions and are covered by the bank guarantee. Defaulting on senior bonds would dry up funding for Irish banks and for the State. Many of those who hold high-risk bonds, subordinated debt, have already incurred large losses. All three banks have already bought back up to €4 billion worth of subordinated debt at a significant loss to the debt holders. International experience shows that the failure of a bank would leave businesses and individuals at the loss of their savings, undermine confidence in the banking system in general and cause serious damage to a whole economy, requiring even greater State intervention to fix.

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=DAL20090923.xml&Node=576

[C. Flower]

Fortygaffs was at it too.



http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=DAL20090923.xml&Node=576

insurance companies = Quinn ?

How can you tell whether they are lying or just don't know what they're talking about ? Are we to believe that Lenihan doesn't know who the bondholders are ? If he is exaggerating the extent to which Credit Unions are involved, what can we rely on ?

[Xray]

If the media hark on about something here it becomes true. They have been harking for at least a year that Lenehan is a hero. A brave intelligent man making the hard and unpopular decisions now like mac the knife did in the 1980s. According to the papers today we are heading for a 25% deficit this year. No amount of breathless bullshit can explain that. I would be happier of the money was being spent on the country than sunk into some unknown persons back pocket out of mine. I don't owe any bond holder any money and neither does this Republic. Explain yourself! you fool.

The problem as diggerout says, is that his budgets have been rubbish. He constantly gets the most significant figures totally wrong. I am not interested in whether he meant well or not, whether he is in the pocket of some elite or just not very competent. But I am interested in the fact that he is making a balls of the country and it may not be fixable by the time he is out of office.

[C. Flower]

Its one thing to make a crap budget because of lack of ability and quite another to deliberately misrepresent the reasons for a massive state bailout.

[PaddyJoe]

And of course the big lie that Lenihan peddled ceaselessly for over a year was that NAMA would get credit flowing again. I think its widely accepted at this stage that that was a deliberate falsehood used to persuade people that NAMA had to be pushed through.

[C. Flower]

And of course the big lie that Lenihan peddled ceaselessly for over a year was that NAMA would get credit flowing again. I think its widely accepted at this stage that that was a deliberate falsehood used to persuade people that NAMA had to be pushed through.

Yes, all the serious sources said that interest rates would go up as soon as NAMA went through.

[Sidewinder]

Of course the biggest lie of all is that the Guaranteed Irish banks are solvent, viable, well-run and vital-to-the-national-interest enterprises - when the truth is that they were badly-run, antiquated, gombeen, corrupt, property-obsessed, culturally dodgy commercial disasters without a bloody clue what they were doing and who racked up possibly €100bn+ in never-to-be-repaid sub-sub-prime bad debts in just a few years.

[DCon]

Lenihan is on Newstalk now. Will likely be another spoof-fest.

[DCon]

Lenihan is on Newstalk now. Will likely be another spoof-fest.

Yates (on Anglo): You're in denial Minister.

Lenny: NO, YOU'RE IN DENIAL!

[greengoose]

Yates (on Anglo): You're in denial Minister.

Lenny: NO, YOU'RE IN DENIAL!

They are both in denial. To think these are supposed to be leaders past and present. No wonder we are in this unholy mess. Lenihan is the utter gombeen hiding behind his malady. Many got carried away with sentimental feelings for what the regarded as a sick man sacrificing himself for the good of the nation.

It's time for conscience examination on a national scale. Fool me once...

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

From Fahey's statement
Many of those who hold high-risk bonds, subordinated debt, have already incurred large losses.

Apart from Fahey repeating Lenihan's lies about the debt being held by credit unions and pension funds which the credit union people are saying is untrue I reckon that part above is honest and I suspect Fahey there is referring to the bondholders who are mates of Fianna Fail.

In other words the people that Lenahan and he refuse to identify other than at one time referring to the bondholders as 'US' or overseas investors, then they are credit unions and poor Irish pensioners.

The truth is that the bondholders are people connected to FF and I have very little doubt that the Golden Circle are involved. Which means they are getting two digouts- they are having NAMA take their rubbish loans on a vague promise that NAMA wil chase them for outstanding debt (ho ho ho) and then by having their bondholdings in Anglo supported by government action.

[ang]

Exactly it has to be friends of Fianna Fail as bondholders otherwise just release the information.

As for Lenihan and DENIAL, the one thing he and his party are certainly in DENIAL about is his ability as Minister of Finance.

[DCon]

The truth is that the bondholders are people connected to FF and I have very little doubt that the Golden Circle are involved. Which means they are getting two digouts- they are having NAMA take their rubbish loans on a vague promise that NAMA wil chase them for outstanding debt (ho ho ho) and then by having their bondholdings in Anglo supported by government action.

This is what I fear too.

[C. Flower]

Dermot Desmond's name, mentioned here by Fahey (link is above) comes up a lot in relation to NAMA and the Bank Guarantee. In this instance, FG seems to have been listening to him, but not FF.



In what was a very disappointing speech the other day, Deputy Enda Kenny mentioned the proposal made by Dermot Desmond in The Irish Times as being similar to Fine Gael’s magic bank. Nothing could be further from the truth. Dermot Desmond’s proposal was simply an insurance scheme designed to help bank shareholders. Although I do not disagree with much of what Dermot Desmond has to say, his proposal for an insurance scheme would not work in this country. It was examined and found not to be successful because it would leave the banks with the same problem they now have, whereas NAMA tackles the problem upfront and deals with the issue of liquidity. Unfortunately, Dermot Desmond’s proposal would not.


Captain Con - Fahey said


The bulk of these senior bonds are held by pension funds, insurance companies and credit unions and are covered by the bank guarantee.

How many insurance companies did we have that were likely to be bondholders?

The credit unions are ruled out as being less than a billion in total.

So, if pension funds were bondholders at the time of the Guarantee, would they not have had to publish that in their accounts?

[Digger Out]

Lenihan and FF belive that Denial is a river in Egypt. And this is the problem with creating Lenihan as a saint for canonisation. He can do no wrong in some media minds, and no one can really touch him because of his illness. A very dangerous situation indeed. Anglo and Irish Nationwide should be thrown to the wolves long ago, but both were full of FF cronies and rogue builders. WE must not suffer for them.

[Xray]

Of course the biggest lie of all is that the Guaranteed Irish banks are solvent, viable, well-run and vital-to-the-national-interest enterprises - when the truth is that they were badly-run, antiquated, gombeen, corrupt, property-obsessed, culturally dodgy commercial disasters without a bloody clue what they were doing and who racked up possibly €100bn+ in never-to-be-repaid sub-sub-prime bad debts in just a few years.

Exactly, and we were told the sub prime thing in the USA did not affect us a couple of years ago. I bet the loans that are sub prime in the USA would look good in a NAMA basket. If the burnt the cash they would have got more out of it. These are the most useless companies it is possible to imagine. There is no reason to think they will be any better in the future. Remember AIB went to the wall in the 1980s also. So basically unless there are in the middle of a massive economic boom they go bust. Great.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Dermot Desmond's name, mentioned here by Fahey (link is above) comes up a lot in relation to NAMA and the Bank Guarantee. In this instance, FG seems to have been listening to him, but not FF.



Captain Con - Fahey said

.

How many insurance companies did we have that were likely to be bondholders?

The credit unions are ruled out as being less than a billion in total.

So, if pension funds were bondholders at the time of the Guarantee, would they not have had to publish that in their accounts?

Yes- basically Fahey and Lenihan cannot make up their minds who these bondholders are; If they are Irish credit unions, Insurance companies and pension funds how come Fahey has that information and Lenihan is reduced to mumbling something about 'overseas' investors or 'US' investors?

Either Lenihan or Fahey are telling tall ones and I think both should be challenged as to where they are getting their information.

[C. Flower]

Lets focus on this.
Lenihan said this to an Oirechtas Committee



Senior bondholders are usually and typically pension funds, insurance companies and other long-term providers of debt. I have pointed out in recent days that they also include credit unions. These bondholders provide loans for viable entities on the basis that they are senior to other creditors and are secure. In other words, they are in the same position as depositors. These same senior bond debt investors also buy Government debt and are an important source for keeping the economy funded. These senior bondholders are guaranteed under the Government guarantee scheme. Any suggestion these parties should be invited to consider a reduction in the amount repayable to them would have catastrophic effects for the banking system, the funding of the State and the wider economy. Many of these senior bondholders are trading companies in Irish commercial life with substantial numbers of employees.


Ring any bells?

Fahey also said



The bulk of these senior bonds are held by pension funds, insurance companies and credit unions


Lenihan now talks about overseas bondholders.

Bonds are tradeable. Their value would have been boosted by the Banks Guarantee.

I would imagine that they have mainly changed hands since the Guarantee. What I'm interested in is who owned them at the time they were unneccessarily Guaranteed at the cost of the public.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Given Anglo's apparent reputation among other banks how likely is it that the bondholders were foreign institutions? Or blue chip institutions at all? Looks to me like there was a smell of 'cowboy' off that bank for a number of years and you have to ask yourself who would have an interest in becoming a bondholder for an FF piggybank only the Golden Circle?

I can't see reputable investors on that list given the references to Anglo's dodgy reputation in the sector even before the balloon went up.

If I were a betting man I'd have my noney on a number of nominee companies registered in tax havens behind which the Golden Circle sit. This challenge should be made and the opposition should get on this and stay on it.

If the bondholders were or are reputable companies whats the big secrecy about naming them or at least the nominee companies?

[C. Flower]

At this stage, I feel I could make a pretty good guess at who some of them were, at the time of the Guarantee.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Does anyone trust NAMA to chase these people up for their personal wealth for any of the debts taken on by NAMA?

I don't. I think Lenihan and co are just sweating the idea through and hoping the public will take their off eyes whatever NAMA is supposed to be chasing.

And then the further slices from public funds will be taken in smaller steps until NAMA has started writing off debts for people living in a mansion up the road.

This is a FF manoeuver to stretch the whole problem out over time and hope they can dice and slice the problem away for 'the lads'.

I don't give a sh&t about Lenihan's illness. He should finish his days in jail for the attempted extortion of money from families in the state to bail out his mates.

The only reason he is still there is because FF know that there are monkeys in Ireland with a vote that will think he's a great man because he's ill and one does not speak ill of the seriously ill in Ireland.

In other words Fianna Fail will rely on the moo'ing complacency in Ireland again like a safety net.

[eoinmn]

Did he ever name the specific amount that Credit Unions had in Anglo bonds?

Like, did he say they have 7 bn when they had 0.9 bn?

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Not that I recall. There has been a series of references to Ireland's obligation to these bondholders but they seem to be a different group of people every time Lenihan or Fahey (at the moment) make a statement.

If we have officials from the credit unions denying what Fahey or Lenihan said then someone somewhere is telling porkies and I'm assuming the credit union people wouldn't make that statement if they thought Lenihan or Fahey could prove it.

Someone is lying.

[eoinmn]

From what I have read on this thread the the League of Credit Unions are NOT denying that credit unions are Anglo bondholders. They are not implying that Lenhian lied.

They are implying that Lenihan overstated the importance or value of their investment.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

And why would Lenihan do that?

[DCon]

More here, from 30th March:


Deputy Brian Lenihan: They operated under a statutory mandate laid down by this House. I thank the Members for the work they put into that legislation. These agencies worked with my Department and the NTMA to resolve our banking crisis. We now know the problems we have, we have faced up to them and we have put in place a pathway out of them. Today provides for once and for all a solid basis for confidence in the future of our financial system.

The Government is recapitalising the financial institutions so that the system as a whole may return to its rightful role as provider of credit to the real economy. Inevitably, there is an upfront investment by the State because we have forced the banks to recognise their losses upfront and to rid the system of the scourge of these speculative loans and the mismanagement of the banking system.

Deputy Bruton questioned why, as an alternative to recapitalisation, the Government does not just let Anglo Irish Bank fail. Many other Deputies questioned the systemic importance of Anglo Irish Bank and why it was guaranteed at all. Anglo Irish Bank was much larger relative to the Irish economy than Lehman Brothers was relative to the US economy. The disorderly failure of Lehman Brothers brought the global financial system to its knees. The disorderly failure of Anglo Irish Bank two weeks later would have had the same effect on the entire Irish banking system. I understand Deputy Bruton referred to Washington Mutual. The resolution mechanism in that bank cannot be applied to a bank in this country because the bank’s senior bonds were issued not by the bank itself but by a separate holding company. That corporate structure allowed the US authorities to treat senior bondholders and depositors differently.

Deputies raised points concerning the treatment of bondholders. When talking about this jurisdiction, it is important to bear in mind that those who provide funds to Irish banks are not exclusively from other countries.

Deputy Damien English: What about Quinn?

Deputy Brian Lenihan: Information Zoom Approximately half of the funds advanced to the Irish banks to support the Irish economy are derived from domestic sources. When people talk about defaulting on bondholders, they are talking about defaulting on themselves, Irish credit unions, Irish enterprises and Irish pension funds.

Deputy Róisín Shortall: Information Zoom Has the Minister tried negotiating?

Deputy Brian Lenihan: Information Zoom If Deputy Shortall wants to negotiate with her local credit union about a reduction in the amount of deposits and wishes to advise her constituents in Dublin North West of her banking policy, I encourage her to do so immediately. She should see what their reaction will be. This is a fundamental issue for the country. If there is any suggestion the Government would lose the vote tonight and there would be a change of Government in a few days time, it would be extremely serious for this country in light of some of the comments made about bondholders in this country and in current opinion polls. Happily, that will not happen tonight and I hope that by the next election we will realise the realities of this issue.

Deputy Bruton noted that Anglo Irish Bank retains approximately €2 billion in subordinated debt. The vast bulk of these bonds are dated bonds, meaning they are covered by the guarantee scheme until September 2010. The treatment of that remaining subordinated debt in the future will be considered as part of the process for agreeing a restructuring plan for Anglo Irish Bank with the EU Commission over the coming months. In assessing the options to deal with bondholders it is important to note the lending base of the Irish economy. It is 50% funded from international sources and 50% funded from domestic sources. Interestingly, Irish sovereign borrowing is 80% funded from international sources. The Labour Party has not advocated this policy but the suggestion made by Deputy Bruton is that there would be no read through from a default on bank debt to a default on sovereign debt; it is erroneous when 80% of our funding derives from foreign sources. The maintenance of international confidence in the Irish financial system is of critical importance to our economy. Despite the many figures bandied about this afternoon our bond spreads have not moved an inch. This is signal testimony to the international confidence in the common sense of the announcement made today and the capacity we demonstrate to tackle our problems.

Deputy Burton suggested that if we nationalised Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland, it would have eliminated the valuation risk around NAMA, and as a result there would have been no need for the concept of long-term economic value. She suggested the approach the Government followed is more costly. I stress that if we had done this the losses crystallised at Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland would still have to be fully recognised and real capital would been required. It is appropriate that we have an asset management agency going through the banks on a bottom-up basis and establishing where were the vulnerabilites in each institution and the degree of culpability for excessive lending in each institution.

Deputies Bruton and Burton questioned when we would see a revised NAMA business plan and NAMA codes of practice. There are substantial provisions in the Act dealing with transparent reporting by NAMA. The board proposes to review the draft business plan published in October 2009 and will publish a revised business plan by 30 June 2010. NAMA has met its obligation to submit such codes of practice and my Department is working with NAMA to ensure these codes fully meet the standard expected.

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=DAL20100330.xml&Node=1376

[eoinmn]

And why would Lenihan do that?

To justify the guarantee of Anglo.

Of course to do so, is unethical, but the pedant in me wonders if it can be classed as a "lie".

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

If Lenihan knows who the Anglo bondholders are, and I'd bet large money he does, then his misdirections are indeed lies.

Whats the big secret about their identities if they are large blue-chip retirement funds etc? And why would for example large blue-chippers like say Legal and General or Prudential want to hide behind nominee companies? No reason for them to do so.

[eoinmn]

Perhaps it is time for a letter writing campaign asking for the names of the bondholders, as on the night of the guarantee, and the value of their bonds.

[C. Flower]

The Sunday Business Post article is now available on line:

"Untrue" is the word used by Kieron Brennan:


Kieron Brennan, the chief executive of the Irish League of Credit Unions, said it was ‘‘unwise and irresponsible’’ to suggest that the credit unions had large investments in Anglo.
Brennan said it was ‘‘unfortunate’’ that the credit unions were being used ‘‘to justify arguments for government support for financial institutions’’.


‘‘The suggestion is that Anglo must be supported, as failure to do so would jeopardise large amounts of credit union investments," Brennan said. This suggestion, he added, was not just untrue but could have the effect of ‘‘undermining confidence in credit unions’’.

Lenihan clearly knows who the bondholders are and the information he has given out is described as untrue. There's only one implication to that.

http://www.sbpost.ie/news/ireland/credit-union-body-angered-at-anglo-irish-link-48842.html

[DCon]

I wonder if Kenny knows who the bondholders are.


Speaking at the annual dinner of the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland this evening Fine Gael Leader, Enda Kenny T.D., slammed the continuing culture of cover-up between Fianna Fáil and Anglo Irish bank. He demanded that the list of the Anglo bond holders be published immediately so that Irish taxpayers can see who they are being forced to bail out by Fianna Fáil. He also went on to highlight the relevant section of the Bank Guarantee Scheme that allows the Minister for Finance to intervene and block the payment of a €1.5m pension top-up to the Bank of Ireland CEO.

Speaking at the event, the Fine Gael Leader said;

“Fianna Fáil and Brian Cowen can not continue to cover up the cosy relationships that lie at the heart of the bail out of Anglo Irish bank and its faceless, nameless bondholders. I am calling on the Taoiseach to use the wide ranging powers that the Government now has at its disposal to publish the list of bond holders in Anglo so that the Irish taxpayer will know who their billions are bailing out.

http://www.finegael.org/news/a/2812/article

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Sounds like Kenny is on to that alright- 'nameless, faceless bondholders' is a bit of a pregnant description ...

[DCon]

Looks like the Norwegians had some Anglo bonds. Not a significant amount though.

http://www.regjeringen.no/Upload/FIN/Statens%20pensjonsfond/nbim/fi_holdings_spu_sorted_09.pdf

The Arabs too

http://www.arabbank.ae/uploads/File/GMBF-Dec06.pdf