Noonan refuses to provide details of large payments made by IBRC immediately before its liquidation

February 22, 2013 by namawinelake

Confidential messages received on here suggest that the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation liquidation wasn’t a very well-kept secret and prior to the announcement of the bank’s liquidation on 6th February 2013, there may have been some abuse of inside knowledge in the run-up to the liquidation announcement with some creditors getting their bills paid early.

Who knows?

This week in the Dail, the Sinn Fein finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan to detail payments of over €1m that were made by IBRC in the immediate run-up and aftermath of the liquidation announcement. As is becoming par for the course, Minister Noonan  refused to provide any meaningful answer and fell back upon his old reliable “it’s commercially sensitive”.

So, it is “commercially sensitive” if a bank which we 100% own has made large payments around its “surprise” liquidation. It’s a good job we have such complete trust in politicians and bankers…

The full parliamentary question and response are here.

Deputy Pearse Doherty: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide a schedule of approved payments where the payment was for a sum in excess of €1 million made by Irish bank Resolution Corporation for the seven days prior to 4.30 p.m. on 6 February 2013 and to provide a similar schedule for payments made in the seven days from 4.30 p.m. on 6 February 2013.

Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan: The payments in excess of €1m made by IBRC for the seven days prior and post the liquidation are commercially sensitive matters and therefore I cannot provide such information. It is normal course of practise that payments made by IBRC and the Special Liquidator are conducted under appropriate confidentiality constraints in order to protect the interests of all parties.

UPDATE: 22nd February, 2013. Tom Lyons in last weekend’s Sunday Independent claims that €40m was given by IBRC to Topaz, the oil distribution company, on the day that it was liquidated by the Government. Topaz, says the Sindo, is part-owned by Denis O’Brien.