Fraud police hold second Anglo Irish Bank executive

A second Anglo Irish Bank executive was questioned today by fraud officers investigating alleged financial irregularities at the nationalised lender.

The bank's former finance director and chief risk officer, William McAteer, was arrested early this morning and held in a Dublin police station.

Last week Sean FitzPatrick, the former Anglo Irish chief, was taken into custody following a dawn raid at his home in County Wicklow.

Fraud squad detectives questioned him for 24 hours before being released without charge.

FitzPatrick was the first person to be arrested since the bank's headquarters in central Dublin was raided by the garda fraud squad and investigators from the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement last February.

This month the bank began legal action against him to try to recover loans of 70 million. Over eight years until 2007, FitzPatrick shifted borrowings with Anglo Irish Bank to another bank before the annual report was audited.

The loans reached as much as 129 million at one point in 2007.

The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement and the Financial Regulator are also investigating whether Anglo Irish used more than 7 billion of short-term deposits from Irish Life & Permanent to mask big customer deposit withdrawals.

The Irish government has pumped 4 billion into Anglo Irish since it was bailed out last January. Record losses are expected this month that could mean more money being given to the bank.