Allied Irish Banks chief Colm Doherty has said the bank has moved to improve internal controls since advancing loans worth more than £700m to Achilleas Kallakis, the Greek property tycoon charged this week with property fraud.
Kallakis and Alexander Williams were charged this week with offences in relation to defrauding AIB and Bank of Scotland.
Kallakis and Williams, formerly known as Martin Lewis, both from London, were charged with two counts of conspiracy to defraud, 13 counts of forgery, five counts of fraud by false representation, two counts of money laundering and one count of obtaining a money transfer by deception.
The case was sent to Southwark Crown Court and the next hearing will be on 4 May.
The offences charged in relation to Allied Irish Bank relate to property loans made between 2003 and 2007 resulting in losses of £56m.
According to the Irish Independent, Doherty this week said the bank had brought the matter to the attention of the UK Serious Fraud Office as soon as it discovered a problem and he had subsequently moved to improve internal controls.
He added: “A number of people have left the company since then, so clearly I wasn’t happy with the level of controls.” he commented.
He said he could not talk further about the situation as the matter was before the
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