The former chief executive of the bank at the centre of Ireland’s financial crash has pleaded guilty to charges related to unlawful loans to property developers a decade ago.

David Drumm, who was jailed earlier this month over his role in a €7.2bn (£6.3bn) fraud conspiracy at the bank, admitted authorising or permitting Anglo Irish Bank to give unlawful financial assistance to a group of investors to buy shares in the bank in 2008.

The “Maple 10” group consisted of wealthy builders and property developers, including one man who was an investor in luxury hotels in London, including Claridge’s and the Connaught.

Drumm was produced from custody on Friday to appear at Dublin circuit criminal court where he answered “guilty” to each of the 10 charges read out by a court official.

His decision to plead guilty brings to an end nine years of criminal investigations into the bank.



The prosecutor Paul O’Higgins said 21 further charges listed on the indictment against Drumm would no longer be pursued and a trial scheduled for October would be cancelled.

Drumm had previously being found guilty of working with two other senior executives at Anglo and the chief executive of a rival bank to give the misleading impression to shareholders that deposits in 2008 were €7.2bn (£6.3bn) larger than they were, as the worldwide financial crisis began to bite.

The collapse of the bank precipitated a financial crash in Ireland, which was so deep it led to a €67.5bn bailout by the International Monetary Fund, the EU and the European Central Bank.