The €100million fine imposed on Bank of Ireland yesterday once again proves to the world that Ireland is a hotbed of white collar crime.
They can dress it up any way they want by calling it a tracker mortgage scandal but what this rogue bank did amounted to fraud on an industrial scale.
And to think that these captains of greed were in recent days calling for the cap on bankers’ pay to be lifted claiming they can’t live on 500 grand a year.
Read More: Met Eireann's 30-day forecast with Ireland to get wintry blast in October
The record fine imposed by the Irish Central Bank has actually not been levied on BoI but on its customers, many of whom have already been robbed.
These crimes were not actually carried out by a bank, they were perpetrated by men and women yet not a single one has been held to account.
The 'lessons have been learned'-brigade was out in force yesterday reassuring the public that these dark doings took that place in the past won’t be repeated.
The problem is that almost 16,000 families and individuals had their lives turned upside down by this bank between 2004 and June of this year and far from owning up it did everything possible to evade justice.
These so-called “failings” resulted in the loss of 50 properties, including 25 family homes.
RTE, our national broadcaster, informed the nation that “Bank of Ireland has been fined €100.5million by the Central Bank over its handling of its tracker mortgage customers”.
Some deterrent. Wouldn’t half the country go out to rob banks if they knew all they faced if caught was a fine that could be passed on for someone else to pay?
If such systematic and sustained dishonest activity was engaged in by an ordinary company it would be called out for what it is and that’s fraud.
The fine, which was reduced from €143.6million under the settlement discount scheme, is on top of the more than €186.4million it has already paid to the customers it robbed.
You don’t need to be a conspiracy theorist to know that all the banks conspired against their tracker mortgage customers.
AIB and its subsidiary EBS were fined a then-record €96.7million in June for similar breaches while Ulster Bank was ordered to pay €37.8million last March.
In 2020 KBC Bank Ireland was hit with a €18.3million fine while Permanent TSB was fined €21million in 2019.
What is referred to as the tracker mortgage scandal saw more than 40,000 borrowers ripped off by their banks with some families losing their homes as a result of this wrongdoing.
While the banks were forced to repay and compensate to the tune of €1.5billion there has not been a single prosecution for what has been described as highly-organised theft.
The question that must be put to all the Irish banks is similar to the infamous question: “When did you stop beating your wife?"
For all these rogue banks must come clean and explain when they ceased robbing their customers giving exact dates as to when the conspiracy ended.
Because as it stands and despite all the spin there is no reason to believe that the culture inside these financial institutions has changed to any great degree.
For we have learned from the past they will not even stop even when they are caught.
It is only when they have no other alternative they cease their nefarious activities and the latest Central Bank reports shows this clearly to be the case.
After the country’s financial institutions bankrupted the country the public were assured that lessons had been learned and that reforms implemented at the time would ensure this would never happen again.
Yet the tracker mortgage fraud was taking place right under the nose of the Central Bank as it made these ludicrous announcements and might never have come to light if not for a landmark court case.
The fact is BoI and the other financial institutions screwed their customers and made their lives a living hell for over a decade and all they received were fines that ended up being paid by their long-suffering customers.
These so-called punishments are merely window dressing to assuage public anger against entities which destroyed families who lost their homes.
It should not be forgotten that when these mass frauds were taking place these institutions were taking massive amounts of taxpayers money to keep them afloat.
They also received tax breaks worth tens of millions at a time when the public were punished by severe austerity, because of the actions of the banks and their reckless lending to builders.
What is even more galling is that the establishment will not call it out for what it is and that is the biggest fraud case in Irish history.
Until individuals who set out to defraud on behalf of their companies are brought to court for their criminal deeds Ireland will continue to be a haven for white collar criminals.
READ NEXT:
Dublin pub offers punters 20% off food if they bring their own coat
One-off measures 'will insulate most households' this winter, says ESRI
Gardai waiting to speak to mum of young girl who was stabbed 75 times
'Awful' weather headed straight for Ireland as Met Eireann issue warnings
RTE's Late Late Show sees dip in ratings since start of season
Get breaking news to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter
