The net closes… former Anglo chief Seanie Fitz is arrested

The Garda enquiry into alleged fraudulent behaviour at the former Anglo Irish Bank has produced its third arrest in two days - and the latest man in custody is Sean FitzPatrick.

FitzPatrick was the chief executive of Anglo for 19 years before 2005, when he became the bank’s chairman.

He oversaw a culture of massive lending which at one stage saw Anglo Irish Bank declared as the world’s top performing bank.

However, the reckless nature of the lending eventually came home to roost through the so-called “Maple 10”, a golden circle of ten businessmen, including Sean Quinn, who were lent huge sums of money to buy shares in the bank and falsely inflate Anglo’s nosediving share-price.

The Garda Fraud Bureau’s investigations into alleged financial irregularities at the bank saw two former Anglo executives arrested on Monday.

Former finance director Willie McAteer and chief risk officer Pat Whelan appeared in court yesterday where they faced 16 charges in relation to fraudulent lending.

They each face sentences of up to five years in jail if convicted.

While those arrests were significant, there's no doubt that the arrest of Seanie Fitz, regarded by many as the key figure in the culture of reckless lending which brought down Anglo Irish Bank and saddled generations of Irish citizens with tens of billions of debt, is the most notable moment yet in the Gardai's bid to get to the bottom of the bank that broke the country.