Jury sworn in at trial of former Anglo official

The trial is scheduled to take between four to six weeks

A jury has been sworn in to try a former official of Anglo Irish Bank who is charged with conspiring to destroy, mutilate or falsify records relating to bank accounts.

Tiarnan O'Mahoney, aged 58, of Glen Pines, Enniskerry in Co Wicklow, was Anglo's former Chief Operations Officer.

He pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one count of conspiring to destroy, mutilate or falsify books, documents or records relating to eight named bank accounts between 24 March 2003 and 31 December 2004.

The trial is expected to hear from more than 30 witnesses and is scheduled to take between four to six weeks.

Potential jurors were told they should not serve on the jury if they knew anyone who had any association with Anglo Irish Bank.

Judge Martin Nolan said they should not serve if they had worked in the bank or held shares in Anglo or if they knew anyone who had had shares in Anglo.

He also told them they should not serve if they worked for the Revenue Commissioners.

The judge said they should not serve if they felt they could not act impartially or if they had strong feelings about Anglo.

A jury of eight women and four men has been sworn in. They have been told to return to court next Monday.

Judge Nolan said certain legal and procedural matters have to be dealt with and they would not be required until Monday.

Before they left Judge Nolan told them he wanted to give them a "serious warning".

He warned them not to try to investigate the matter themselves by putting Mr O'Mahoney's name into an internet search engine.

He said he gave this warning to every jury and warned them that investigating the matter themselves would be a breach of the oath they had taken.

He said Mr O'Mahoney was entitled to a fair trial and that meant he should be tried only on what is said in court during this trial.