A LETTER WRITTEN in support of former Anglo CEO David Drumm ahead of his bail hearing in the U.S. details how he and his wife Lorraine invited contractors working on his house in for meals during a project at the couple’s Boston home. Harman Burkat said his decision to move back to the USA in the wake of the collapse of Anglo Irish Bank demonstrates that he previously fled Ireland.
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Mr Drumm, who has spent 33 nights in jail, took to the stand in Boston during his bail hearing, to ask Judge Donald Cabell to release him under strict conditions.
Lawyers for Drumm have told a Boston court that the courts here in Ireland would likely grant him bail while awaiting trial on charges including forgery and conspiracy.
“Were I to flee right now, I would be abandoning my wife, abandoning my children”, Drumm said. He assured the judge he was not a flight risk.
Attorneys for Drumm said he is willing to accept home confinement and electronic monitoring, and several of his friends have offered to put up their homes as collateral.
When the family did relocate to the wealthy suburb of Wellesley, “I was free to come and go”, and he returned to Ireland twice in 2009 to discuss his outstanding loans with his former employer.
Burkart said the judge presiding over Drumm’s bankruptcy case has questioned his credibility and honesty. He is seeking to be released on bail pending his extradition hearing on the grounds that he is not a danger to the community or a flight risk.
“Ireland’s delay has been so substantial that, under USA law, any action against Mr. Drumm would have been long ago barred by the statute of limitations”, they wrote in a court filing this week.
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The judge told the prosecutor and the defense to agree on a date in February for the extradition hearing.
