Seán FitzPatrick trial continues on false statement charges

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Seán FitzPatrick has pleaded not guilty to 27 offences under the 1990 Companies Act.

The charges include 22 allegations of making a misleading, false or deceptive statement to auditors and five of furnishing false information in the years 2002 to 2007.

His trial continued at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 16 February 2017 before Judge John Aylmer and a jury. The proceedings were reported on 16 February 2017.

Auditor Kieran Kelly accepted that he had inadvertently given misleading evidence in an earlier trial before Judge Mary Ellen Ring about how his Garda statement was compiled. Defence counsel Bernard Condon SC questioned him about that evidence, given during the 2015 trial.

Mr Condon said he was not suggesting that Mr Kelly had wilfully perjured himself or intentionally misled the court. He attributed the earlier evidence to a lack of recollection which Mr Kelly later tried to correct.

Mr Kelly accepted that he had seen portions of fellow auditor Vincent Bergin’s statement before making his own, contrary to his earlier evidence. He explained that he had not remembered the entire statement-taking process and that his recollection had been incomplete.

He also agreed that solicitors A&L Goodbody had prepared his draft statement and emailed it to him and others, including people within EY.