The former Chairman of Anglo Irish Bank has told the High Court he funded a stg£250,000 investment in a London high rise office block on behalf of an employee.

Sean FitzPatrick is giving evidence at his bankruptcy proceedings that he was 'quite wealthy' at the time in 2006 and he wanted to give former Anglo Assistant Manager Mark Redmond a 'leg-up'.

He has said he is 'absolutely certain' the money was not given as a loan. The stg£250,000 was only to be repaid by Mr. Redmond if the venture was profitable.

He asked the then Assitant Manager to put a note to this effect on the file.

Mr. FitzPatrick is being questioned by lawyers for Chris Lehane, the official assignee overseeing his bankruptcy, about the ownership of the Woolgate Exchange in London.

He has told the court that he initially invested stg£1 million in the property in 2006.

'I was quite wealthy at that stage'

Confident he would make a profit, a week later he decided to put in a further stg£250,000 for the benefit of Mr. Redmond, who was working hard for him and had joined Anglo as a school-leaver from Tallaght.

'I don't mean to be arrogant or smart but I was quite wealthy at that stage', he said.

The court has heard the investment was not succesful and in 2010 Mr. FitzPatrick valued his stake in Woolgate at zero.

Earlier Mark Redmond gave evidence that while the investment was held in his name he did not receive a stg£250,000 loan from the former Anglo Chairman to buy into the property.

He said in 2006 he was earning around €50,000 working on the lending team at Anglo and was delighted when Mr. FitzPatrick offered to give the benefit of the investment, with none of the risk.

The hearing continues.