Fat cats win again
Fat Cats
The fat cats have won again as Brian Cowen announced in the Dáil this morning that he has rubber-stamped the appointment of AIB insider Colm Doherty for the bank’s top job, according to Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD.
“This isn’t regime change, it’s business as usual for the banks. Brian Lenihan is working for the banks, not for us. He’s presenting himself as a strong man by defending the salary cap. But he’s giving in on the most important issue: the fact that an insider is getting the top job.
“We were promised a change in corporate culture and proper regulation of the banks. Instead the corporate governance guidelines which were supposed to herald a new era in finance have been abandoned. The CEO and Chairman will be the same person. This is corporate governance at its worst. The fat cats have won again. But this is exactly the sort of ‘success story’ that we have come to expect from Fianna Fáil.
“Mr Doherty was on the board of AIB when it transformed itself into one of Ireland’s most reckless lenders. He was also in charge of the Capital Markets section of AIB which dealt in its own shares and routed money through tax havens in the Pacific and the Caribbean. Mr Doherty, like the rest of AIB’s board from that era, should be long gone by this stage.
“This is further confirmation that Brian Lenihan is the banker’s man in Leinster House.
“The sobering lesson from this experience is that in any showdown between this Government and the banks, it’s the banks that win. The banks have been guaranteed, recapitalised and NAMA’d by Fianna Fáil. With Fianna Fáil in Government, the banks will continue to get an easy ride, but in the process, they are riding roughshod over taxpayers.
“I don’t accept that AIB was unable to find an outside candidate. If Anglo Irish Bank was able to find an outside candidate, AIB should be able to. The bank could at least have advertised the vacancy in the international press.”