Former Anglo Irish Bank officials jailed over tax conspiracy

Three former Anglo Irish Bank employees have been jailed for conspiring to hide accounts connected to the bank's former chairman from Irish tax authorities.

Tiarnan O'Mahoney, Bernard Daly and Aoife Maguire were found guilty on all charges after a two-month trial.

O'Mahoney, 56, who was second in charge at the bank, was given a three-year sentence on Friday.

Former secretary Daly was sentenced to two years, and ex-assistant manager Maguire got 18 months.

The trio were convicted of conspiring to conceal accounts relating to former Anglo Irish Bank chief Sean FitzPatrick's brother-in-law and of conspiring to defraud the Revenue Commissioners, the Republic of Ireland's tax collection body.

O'Mahoney and Daly, 67, were convicted of knowingly giving false information to the Revenue Commissioners.

O'Mahoney and Maguire, 62, were found guilty of conspiring to hide six other accounts.

All the accounts were linked to Mr FitzPatrick, the court heard.

Defence lawyers argued for mitigation for their clients on the basis of their ages and their good character.

The Circuit Criminal Court in Dublin was told there was no evidence of any personal gain for any of the three former bank employees.

The court also heard that none of the three had any previous convictions.

But the judge said banking must be built on trust and honesty, and that Anglo Irish Bank had a dishonest approach to its tax responsibilities.

He said that although they had acted out of loyalty their fraud had been significant, deliberate and well designed, and that prison sentences were warranted.