Soft sentences for the Bankers

seamus wrote: »

Yes, but he defrauded the state, maliciously and deliberately And he got 2 years, not six.

He got six years, reduced to two on appeal so youre not comparing like for like. I am because it was Judge Martin Nolan who presided over both the garlic trial and the Anglo one today. Same judge, completely different sentencing. Nolan is well known to be an out of control judge, so much so that they had to put him on the family courts not so long ago so the public wouldnt get to hear of his judgements.

You cannot punish someone for pleading not guilty, regardless of whether their trial takes 89 minutes or 89 days. It's a core part of having a fair legal system.
2 to 3.5 years in Mountjoy for someone who is or was a respected professional is not easy time. If you offered me €2m to spend 2 years in there, I'd tell you go jump.

Judges can take an early guilty plea and co-operation with the Gardai into consideration when sentencing. These three bankers did neither and made it as difficult as possible for the State to prove their guilt, so much so that it was one of the longest running trials ever seen in the history of the State, wasting vast resources and taxpayers money when an early plea would have avoided all this. They pleaded innocence and were foud guility, do you think they should be rewarded for that or something ?

Furthermore Sean Quinn did 90 days in Mountjoy and there wasnt a bother on him. Playing dominoes and cards for three months and making a mockery of the courts by refusing to purge his contempt and feeding the judge lie and lie. He was put in the training unit at Mountjoy for his own safety which is known as cushy time, dont be surprised if this is where these three bankers end up too.

They'll walk out with nothing; no gains from their crime, no job, no prospects.
They're educated and experienced, so they'll get work. But no more six-figure salaries for these guys.

If you think that any of these guys would say it was worth it, you're off your head.

Youre showing naivety now with that statement and it shows me you dont know what is actually happening on the ground if you dont think these men will go back to six figure salaries. Sean Fitzpatrick is already earning a six figure salary while he awaits his trial, he is doing consultancy work right across Dublin. In fact word on the street is that Jonny Ronan gave him an office rent free till he got back on this feet. Same situation with David Drumm when he was fighting extradition in New York, according to his bankruptcy statements he was earning a fair wedge by consulting for bankers in Manhattan. He had already made hundreds of millions for them when he was Head of Anglos New York office so bankers there couldnt give two hoots if he brought the irish economy to its knees by fraudulent activity , they only thing they care about is making money and he made tons for them over the years.

You seem to think that these bankers will be shunned in the banking community. The evidence on the ground says the complete opposite, in fact when Fitzpatrick walked into the Law Library bar after his arrest he got a standing ovation from the barristers, my own cousin and sister both witnessed this and Phoenix reported on it too. He is still welcome at Greystones golf club and plays regulary at Druids Glen too and no-one down there has shunned him either, quite the opposite- he is a hero in those circles. The only group Im aware of that has castigated him is a few old biddies in Greystones who he used to play bridge with- they chucked him out of the club. Apart from that its business as usual.

I can guarantee you when these three get out of jail they will have no problems finding a six figure salary whatsoever, its simply naive to think otherwise given the evidence that is already there.