Taxpayers’ hefty hotel bill for audit at city bank

Date Published: 23-Aug-2010

BY ENDA CUNNINGHAM

A team of up to 15 auditors currently trawling through the loan books at Anglo Irish Bank’s office in Galway City, could potentially run up a hotel bill of more than €125,000 during its stay – at the taxpayers’ expense, the Connacht Sentinel can reveal.

The accountants – who are understood to be assessing loans in preparation for their transfer to the National Assets Management Agency (NAMA) – have taken up residence in a plush four-star city hotel.

However, Anglo Irish Bank – which is effectively owned by the taxpayer since its nationalisation almost two years ago – has refused to answer queries from this newspaper.

The audit team is expected to be ‘in situ’ at the bank’s offices on Forster Street for up to three months – with up to 65 nights in a hotel.

They are also understood to have worked on the bank’s business plan that has been submitted to the European Commission for approval.

Nightly mid-week rates at the hotel range from €110 to €130 for a single room with breakfast included – based on a stay of 65 nights at the higher rate, the bill for accommodation alone would be €126,750. At the lower rate, the bill would work out at €107,250.

The auditors are also entitled to meal and travel expenses during their appraisal of the Galway bank’s loan books.

The team is believed to be preparing loans for transfer to the NAMA ‘toxic bank’ since the beginning of August, when they spent a week in another city hotel, before moving on to their current base.

Part of the auditors’ remit will be to assess outstanding loans to developers in Galway and gauge the ‘haircut’ the loans will be given before transfer to NAMA.

Read more in this week’s Connacht Sentinel