The Irish division of the Bank of Scotland has moved quickly, announcing a new chairman to take the place of Phil Flynn who resigned last night. Although he is being reported as telling RTÉ that he had made an error of judgment by agreeing to become involved in the company, he had told the Irish Times earlier, in relation to Chesterton Finance Co., “As far as I’m concerned, the operation is clean.”The Irish Times also quotes from the statement by the Bank of Scotland –
In a Bank of Scotland (Ireland), statement last night Mr Flynn said: “I am guilty of no wrongdoing, but the bank and I have decided that it is best I step down from my position as non-executive chairman with immediate effect in order to ensure Bank of Scotland (Ireland) is not affected by recent publicity.”
In the Irish Examiner report he states that he was co-operating with the Gardai and had handed over all files in relation to Chesterton Finance, the Cork-based finance company which has been at the centre of the the garda investigation into money laundering, to the Criminal Assets Bureau.
Mr Flynn, a former vice-president of Sinn Féin, also resigned as chairman the Irish Government’s decentralisation committee and as a board member of the VHI.
The Daily Ireland report claims that he was “Caught in the Crossfire”, and states that “Mr Flynn has been a strong supporter of the Daily Ireland project since its inception though he does not serve as a director”, although it is already a little out of date with some of the details and doesn’t offer any further details of his actual role, Flynn and Daily Ireland.
