THE TRIAL OF Seán Fitzpatrick and two of his former Anglo Irish Bank colleagues, Willie McAteer and Pat Whelan, which was initially set to begin today has still not been given an official start date.

The trio stand accused of 16 charges relating to the provision of unlawful financial assistance to 16 people – including Seán Quinn’s family and the ‘Maple 10′ – in 2008 in an attempt to inflate the bank’s share price.

At the time of the deals, McAteer was the finance director at the failed financial institution, while Whelan was the managing director of lending.

Court proceedings at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court are expected to start at the end of January and last between three and six months.

During a hearing last year, which dealt with the disclosure of evidence, the trial judge said about 1,500 jury summonses would be sent by the Courts Service as extra jurors will be required for the empanelling process.

Jury selection is expected to take place during the final week of January. The delay is a result of the parties not being ready in time.

Books of evidence in the case were served in October 2012, detailing the offences under Irish company law. The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement and the Garda Bureau of Fraud had compiled nine boxes worth of documents as the books of evidence.

Separately, Seán FitzPatrick is also facing 12 charges of making misleading financial statements to auditors of the now defunct bank during the 2000s. That trial will not begin until October this year.

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