Dermot Ahern defends vast bank fraud probe
A TWO-YEAR investigation into hidden loans and losses at Anglo Irish Bank represents the "biggest and most complex" criminal probe in Ireland's history, the justice minister said yesterday as he faced questioning over the failure to charge anyone so far. Dermot Ahern said police and corporate ethics officials have interviewed 400 people, and pored over 115,000 emails and letters in hopes of identifying those responsible for fraud at the nationalised bank.
Mr Ahern, who called the search "the biggest and the most complex investigation in the history of the state", added: "Outrage is no good in lieu of evidence."