"Empty totems of the now laughable notion of justice"

Letter in Saturday’s Irish Times

A chara,

I write to voice my concern about the future of this country. I am sitting on the steps of the Department of Justice & Law Reform, the sun is beating down on my shoulders and I write to expel a dark thought from my mind. What is to become of the disenfranchised generation of Irish citizens whose future happiness and prosperity in this country has been cast in great black shadows by the criminal activities of our financial institutions and the gross mismanagement of our national affairs by our trusted Government?

Like so many other young Irishmen and women, my partner and I have decided to leave Ireland to live and work in another country. I came to the city today to prepare some things for our trip and to say goodbye to the capital for a while, to soak in some of her unique flavour before departing for Perth in Australia. What is it that makes Ireland a special country? What are the deepest moral values that are the foundations of Irish society? As I walk, thinking about Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan’s recent announcement of the country’s national debt (death?) I was deeply concerned not that I no longer knew what this core moral value might be, but saddened to find that I no longer care.

Seemingly, the woeful economic state we find ourselves in is merely a symptom of a far more threatening problem – a spiritual or existential crisis at play in Irish society. My own sense of moral apathy makes me think a deep wound has been inflicted by the bankers’ greed and it is not in our pockets but sadly in the collective heart of the Irish people. We can endure the toxic financial wreck that is Nama’s balance sheet, the grossly unfair debt saddled so abruptly on honest, hard-working tax-payers.

We cannot endure however, the sheer sense of injustice and the total loss of moral law at the filthy hands of these so-called rogues and sleeveens (it is equally disheartening to see we have had cause over the years to establish a colloquialism to best describe such recurrent characters in Irish society).

An example has been set by the leaders of this country that their selfish and cynical behaviour is an acceptable discourse in modern Ireland. Our potential to act meaningfully and righteously in this society has been shrouded in this cynicism by the greedy, ignorant brutes that head our banks and by the lacklustre unimaginative politicians that sit in our Government offices.

As a young able man I am ashamed that my chosen course of action is not violent protest (there should be rioting in the streets outside Dáil Eireann and Anglo Irish Bank); rather I choose to leave the wreckage – feeling as if a bully has just entered the playing field, burst the ball and walked away.

Sitting outside the Department of Justice Law Reform, whose steps feel like empty totems of the now laughable notion of justice, I think that the task at hand is not to set the country’s financial institutions back on track. It is to inspire an entire generation of skilled workers leaving our shores to return at some point to rebuild Ireland in the spirit of honesty and hard work, with a belief in our ability to live for the prosperity of others as well as ourselves. – Yours, etc,

BEN MULLEN,

Raheen Park,

Bray, Co Wicklow.

Guido publishes partial list of Anglo bondholders

Wexford-based blogger Guido Fawkes – who usually focuses on the goings-on in Westminister – has published what he says is “the list of foreign Anglo-Irish bondholders as at the close of business tonight.”

That’s a pretty refined sentence. He doesn’t mention if they’re senior or sub-ordinated, though you’d guess at sub. Nor does he say if there is a corresponding list of Irish-based bondholders, though you’d presume there has to be.

Also, it’s only €4bn of €30bn and many are funds probably running accounts for clients.

Still, it seems he has figures – some damn important context – for each one published too, so if you’re interested stay tuned there.

Of course TheStory would be interested in any similar information also! Props to Guido on obtaining the list assuming it stacks up.

Quinn, Russia and Ukraine

We have long been interested about the rather large investments the Quinn Group made in Russia and the Ukraine back in the day. Or not back in the day, depending on your viewpoint. Afterall, it was only last year, post Anglo nationalisation, that Mr Quinn was out in Kazan (yes that’s a Russian city you’ve never heard of), opening a warehouse/distribution facility. I wonder how it’s going? If you’re in doubt, here’s where the plant is:


View Larger Map

The Quinn Group were kind enough to offer us this hilarious video of the opening of the facility via YouTube. I do wonder who owes money to who in this case and if the taxpayer is at this stage involved, especially as Quinn/Quinn Group is the largest debtor to Anglo Irish Bank.

It is also worth noting that we pointed out the basic subsidiary structure some time ago. Quinn Assets Sweden AB is one of the Swedish subsidiaries of Quinn Group (Nedacin Limited (Cyprus) is a subsidiary of Assets Sweden AB. Nedacin has a subsidiary in Russia called Striotlend (стриотлэнд) . Striotlend was apparently used to purchase Russian assets.

Ukrainian assets appears to have been bought via Quinn Holdings Ukraine, which is a subsidiary of Quinn Holdings Sweden (AB). This Ukrainian website appears to report news that Quinn Sweden Holdings AB bought a 92.75% stake in Quinn Holdings Ukraine Ltd in April 2008, around the time the Anglo share price was falling, and the Anglo 10 were getting their act together. Quinn Holdings Ukraine paid upwards of $155m for two assets in Kiev in 2006.

Shuffling some words around…

Here’s a slight re-ordering/re-wording of the bottom-of-the-page story that appears of page 4 (the In The Courts page) of this morning’s Irish Times

‘Judge compares incident with Garda to infamous US beating’

A JUDGE has compared an incident between a Garda and a member of the public to the Rodney King beating in Los Angeles.

Garda Curtis (23) of Ardee, Co Louth, had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault and assault causing harm to John Paul Maughan (19) on Alexandria Road in the Dublin Docks on July 11th, 2009.

Referring to the CCTV recording of the incident, Judge McDonagh said: “On first viewing one is reminded of the Rodney King beating.”

“Self control was sadly lacking”, he told the court in the absence of the jury. “This to me is a case of a single garda overreacting.”

He also questioned why gardaí decided to smash the car’s windows instead of waiting for Mr Maughan and his accomplice to get out when Mr Maughan was clearly not going to escape after the stolen vehicle crashed.

During the five-day trial, the jury heard from several Garda witnesses that Garda Curtis had used justified force.

Referring to other gardaí who gave evidence, Judge McDonagh said: “I do not believe his colleagues bathed themselves in glory either. Too much of the evidence in this trial was clearly partisan.”

On Tuesday the jury was shown footage of the moment when the car crashed and Mr Maughan was dragged out. Some 15 gardaí arrived on the scene and a garda could be seen striking the suspect with his baton.

Several gardaí gave evidence that Mr Maughan was kicking out violently during the arrest.

Garda Gerard Curtis was found not guilty by direction of Judge Donagh McDonagh after he ruled that the prosecution failed to disprove the garda was acting in self-defence when he hit the suspect with his baton after a car chase.

And so it ends. We’ll probably never know if the Garda was/is disciplined, moved, re-trained, questioned internally… An Garda is a black hole of information.

Like some other organisations…

Previous posts on An Garda on this site:

OECD/Transparency International report on Ireland

New details relating to the Terence Wheelock case

Deaths in Garda custody

FOI and An Garda: And again, I quote from that link…

All that is needed for An Garda Síochána to come under FOI is the signature of Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, and some regulations to be implemented. Then we can take our place among such nations as Moldova, Georgia and Azerbaijan as a country that allows citizens to request information from their police force. The Gardai must be brought under FOI as a matter of urgency.

Heh.

The Glackin Report (Final)

Those of our readers with an interest in Irish political history, or indeed old enough to remember, may recall the small controversy over Telecom Eireann and a Johnston Mooney & O’Brien site involving such people as Dermot Desmond, Michael Smurfit and JP McManus. The controversy led to the resignation of Michael Smurfit from the board of Telecom.

Indeed, so hotly contested are the contents of this report, that Dermot Desmond went all the way to the Supreme Court in a bid to prevent the contents of the report being read into the record of the Moriarty Tribunal in 2004.

Here is a handy backgrounder from Ted Harding and Kathleen Barrington from 2002:

One of the great controversies of the 1990s, it turned on the purchase by Telecom Eireann of the former Johnston Mooney & O’Brien (JMOB) bakery site in Ballsbridge, Dublin.

In April 1989 financier Dermot Desmond reached an agreement with the JMOB liquidator to buy the site for £4 million. The property was sold to a firm called Chestvale in September 1989. In January 1990 Desmond told semi-state firm Telecom Eireann that the best price he could get for the site was £9.4 million. Telecom agreed to pay this amount.

When a controversy blew up over the sale, inspector John Glackin carried out an inquiry on behalf of the Department of Industry and Commerce. Desmond denied that he had a beneficial interest in any of the companies involved in buying and selling the site.

He rejected all suggestions that he owned a company called Freezone, which was registered in the Isle of Man tax haven. It provided much of the financing for the purchase of the property and received £1.3 million in profit. Glackin’s report, hotly contested by Desmond, found that the financier was among those who made over £5 million from the sale of the Ballsbridge property.

This report has been collecting dust on various shelves for the past 16 years, and thanks to the wonders of the interwebs we are able to bring you the full report:



Covanta contract with Dublin City Council

Here is a copy of the Covanta (Dublin Waste to Energy Limited) contract with Dublin City Council (related to Poolbeg incinerator), in redacted form, released under the Environmental Information Regulations:


Davíðsdóttir on Iceland and Ireland

Sigrún Davíðsdóttir, London Correspondent with RUV, the Icelandic RTE…

For an Icelander the demise of the Irish banks has a strong resemblance to what happened in Iceland. The huge difference is that Icelanders know a lot more about banking in Iceland thanks to the fantastic report of the Althingi Investigative Commission. So far, the Irish only have sporadic insights into their banks and their relations to big investors and clients…

Read it in full.

Transparency? Democracy? Heh.

More Anglo Irish Bank subsidaries

Here are more to add to the long list (some have been mentioned before), and it is worth noting all of these companies are subject to the Ethics in Public Office Act:

Anglo Irish Bank Limited
Anglo Irish Assurance Company Limited
Anglo Irish Corporate Bank Limited
Anglo Irish International Finance
Anglo Irish Asset Management Limited
Buyway Group Limited
Pagnol Limited
Anglo Irish Nominees Limited
Anglo Irish Bank (Nominees) Limited
Geranth Limited
Pegasus Nominees Limited
Anglo Irish Bank ESOP Limited
Anglo Irish Bank Capital Partners Limited
Anglo Irish Administration Limited
Anglo Irish Financial Services Limited
CF Limited
Modify 5 Limited
Anglo Irish International Financial Services Limited
Ansbacher Bankers Limited
IBOC Limited Irish
Buyway Limited
Knightsdale Limited
Sparta Financial Services
Fitzwilliam Leasing Limited
Anglo Irish Mortgage Bank
Anglo Irish Funding 1 Limited
Anglo Irish Funding 2 Limited
Anglo Irish Funding 3 Limited
Anglo Irish Funding 4 Limited
Anglo Irish Funding 5 Limited
Anglo Irish Funding 6 Limited
Anglo Irish Capital Funding Limited Steenwal B.V.
Anglo Irish Bank Corporation (International) PLC
Anglo Irish Holdings IOM Limited
AIT (Nominees) Limited
Anglo Irish Nominees (IOM) Limited
Anglo Irish Trust (IOM) Limited
Alexan Limited
Beaugrand Sarl
Belalan Bischoffshein Freehold SPRL
Belalan Bischoffshein Leashold SPRL
Belalan Holdings SPRL
Belalan Louise Freehold SPRL
Belalan Louise Leashold SPRL
Belalan Meir Freehold SPRL
Belalan Meir Leashold SPRL
Berala Sarl
Castle Farm Campus (Telford) Limited
Chancery Place Limited Sarl
Erste DIG Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH
Fellstar Limited
Fenlay Limited
Finsbury Dials Sarl
Harpen Ostenhellweg GmbH
Heywood Park Limited
Kernesk Limited
Ladyland Limited
Moreton Limited
Newbury (GP) Limited
Petersen Limited
Portwall One Limited
QBC Czech SRO
QDH Czech SRO
Racol Sarl
Sajola Sarl
Salado Enterprises Limited
Sheps (PHFL) Limited
Starcrest Limited
Talca Enterprises Limited
Tarnold Holdings Sarl
West Port Sarl
Westow Limited
Woolgate SA
Zeus Investments 1 SPRL
Zeus Investments 2 SPRL
555 NMA Investors LLC
Alpha Ceres GP LLC
Alpha Ceres REIT, Inc.
Beta Ceres GP, Inc.
Delta Ceres (STAP), Inc.
Gamma Ceres GP, Inc.
Zeta Ceres Capital, Inc.
Zeta Ceres GP, Inc.
Zeta Ceres New York LLC
Zeta Ceres REIT, Inc.
Zeta Ceres, Inc.
Anglo Irish Boston Corporation
Anglo Irish New York Corporation
Anglo Irish Chicago Corporation
10 South State Street Holdings LLC
10 South State Street Property LLC
Mainland Investments GP Inc
Mainland Ventures Corp
Project B Investor Limited Partnership
Project B Investor II Limited Partnership
MBB Investment Partners Limited Partnership
CWB Holdings Limited Partnership
CWB Hotel Limited Partnership
CWB Retail Limited Partnership
CWB Apartments Limited Partnership
Beta Ceres Limited Partnership
Gamma Ceres Limited Partnership
Zeta Ceres Limited Partnership
SEAPORT CPA Limited Partnership
10 South State Street Property Investor, Limited Partnership
Mainland Investments 625 NMA, Limited Partnership
TA Newbury Street Fund Investor, Limited Partnership
10 South State Street Property GP, LLC
Anglo Irish Equity Limited
Anglo Irish Private Capital Limited
Anglo Irish Leasing Limited
Berfors Nominees Limited
Finance 2000 plc
Clickinput Limited
CDB (UK) Limited
Anglo Irish Property Lending Limited
Anglo Irish Property Investors Limited
Anglo Irish Finance Limited
Anglo Irish Credit plc
Anglo Irish Commercial Properties (No. 1) Limited
Anglo Irish Commercial Properties Limited
Anglo Irish Carry Partner Limited
Anglo Irish Capital GP Limited
Anglo Irish Asset Limited
Anglo Irish Asset Finance plc
Amblepath Properties Limited
Argyle Investment Finance Limited
Anglo Irish Treasury Financing Limited
Anglo Irish GP Holdings Limited
Anglo Irish Property Investors GP Limited
Sutherland Finance And Leasing
Anglo Irish Covered Bonds Limited Liability Partnership
AALP Guernsey Limited
AALP Galashiels Limited
AALP England Limited
AALP Sunbury Limited
IFT Nominees Limited
CDB Investments Limited
Industrial Funding Trust Limited
Anglo Irish German Retail Limited
Soundbow Limited Liability Partnership
Anglo Irish Covered Bonds Finance Limited
Moorevale Investments Limited
Moorevale Investments (Brigade House) Limited
Carisbrooke Anglo Ventures Limited
Carisbrooke Property Investments Limited
Carisbrooke Properties Limited
Carisbrooke Properties (Barry) Limited
Carisbrooke Central Investments Limited
Carisbrooke Properties (Basingstoke) Limited
Carisbrooke Central Limited
GPF Investments Limited
Carisbrooke Lime Street Limited
Countryroad Investments Limited
Taurus Euro Retail Holding Sarl
Taurus Euro Retail Finance Sarl
Taurus Euro Retail Investment Sarl
T-R RE-Fund 1 GmbH
Monument Securitisation (CMBS) Limited
Monument Securitisation Holdings Limited
Monument MT No. 2 Limited
Monument Securitisation (CMBS) No. 2 Limited
Monument Securitisation Holdings No. 2 Limited