The former head of the defunct Anglo Irish Bank has appeared in court in Ireland on 33 charges related to the lender’s operations in the year before it went bust.
David Drumm, one time chief executive of a bank which cost Irish citizens 29 billion euro (£22.4bn), was extradited from the US overnight and brought before Dublin District Court.
Wearing a dark suit and a blue shirt and tie, Drumm sat in the dock as some detail of the 33 charges, including fraud, forgery, misleading management reporting, unlawful lending, falsifying documents and false accounting, were read out.
Judge Michael Walsh was told the defendant could face up to 10 years in jail if convicted on some of the fraud offences.
No plea has been entered at this stage.
A bail application was adjourned after lawyers for the Director of Public Prosecutions objected and claimed the former banker was a flight risk.
Drumm has been in the US since early 2009, shortly after Anglo went bust.
Garda Sergeant Michael McKenna said: “The application is for a remand in custody on all charges.
“Mr Drumm provides a serious risk of flight for a number of reasons, including the seriousness of the alleged offences.”
The judge was also told that Drumm has claimed in court cases in the US that his home and family ties are in America.
Judge Walsh adjourned the bail application to read correspondence between Drumm and Irish authorities including with fraud squad investigators and the corporate watchdog in the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement.
The offices launched inquiries into the bank’s collapse seven years ago and the court heard repeated approaches were made by them to the former banker down through the years.
No details of Drumm’s address in Ireland were revealed during the hearing.
A number of family members were in the public gallery for the hearing.
The court heard Drumm was arrested at Dublin Airport at 5.30am this morning.
He was brought to Ballymun Garda Station where he was charged before being brought to the Criminal Courts of Justice.
He made no reply when the charges were put to him in the station, officers told the court.
The DPP has directed trial on indictment, the court heard.
Sgt McKenna told the court there would be up to 120 witnesses and minutes from up to 15 company meetings to be produced in evidence.
The court also heard there are company accounts, audio recordings and emails and other correspondence.
Two books of evidence were in the court.
Drumm is charged with conspiracy to defraud and false accounting relating to 7.2 billion euro (£5.6bn) deposits placed in Anglo accounts by the then Irish Life and Permanent in September 2008.
He is also charged under the Companies Act over alleged unlawful lending given to members of the Quinn family and the so-called Maple 10 investors to unwind a secret shareholding built up by tycoon Sean Quinn.
He is also charged with breaching rules on making company reports.
Warrants were issued by the court for Drumm’s arrest in June 2013.
He had been living in Wellesley, Massachusetts when he was detained by the US Marshals Service last October.
And he has been in custody in the US since. Drumm was appointed Anglo’s chief executive in January 2005 and resigned in December 2008.
The bank was nationalised early the next year, a move which has cost Irish citizens 29 billion euro (£22.4bn).
Drumm was later remanded in custody.
He will appear before the same court on Tuesday when bail conditions will be finalised.