Sean Fitzpatrick, former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, together with William McAteer and Pat Whelan are beginning their trial
today before a jury in the Circuit Court.
15 jurors have been selected comprising of 8 men and 7 women and the court is be congratulated in this achievement as finding sufficient jurors was always going to be a difficult task given the number of objections that each defendant has together with the number of objections that the State also has.
The 3 are charged with unlawfully providing financial assistance to individuals for the purpose of buying shares in the bank in 2008.
There are in total 16 charges as each charge relates to a specific person who allegedly received financial assistance between July 10th and July 17th 2008.
The Quinn family will have a huge interest in the outcome of this criminal trial as they have brought civil proceedings which involve the manipulation of the shares in the bank contrary to stock market rules.
In 2008 Mr Fitzpatrick was chairman of the bank, Mr McAteer its finance director and chief risk officer and Mr Whelan its managing director of lending in Ireland.
Mr Whelan also face 7 additional charges of being privy to fraudulently altered loan facility letters sent to 7 of the borrowers relating to the purchase of shares in the bank.