David Drumm Ex-Anglo Irish Bank head due back in Boston court

The former head of Anglo Irish Bank is due to return to a Boston federal courthouse on Thursday where he is expected to acquiesce to a U.S. effort to ship him back to his native Ireland to face criminal charges related to the bank's collapse.

U.S. officials arrested David Drumm, 49, at his home in the wealthy Boston suburb of Wellesley on Oct. 10 after Irish officials asked that he be extradited to face a 33-count criminal indictment related to the collapse of the bank, which was nationalized in early 2009 in a takeover worth some 30 billion euro ($33.8 billion).

He has been held in federal custody since his arrest and has denied any wrongdoing.

U.S. court records do not indicate what lawyers plan to address at Thursday's hearing, but Ireland's weekly Sunday Business post quoted Drumm as saying in an interview that he was prepared to drop the extradition fight.

"I have instructed my U.S. attorneys last week to explore all opportunities with the U.S. and Irish authorities to expedite a return to Ireland," the newspaper quoted Drumm as saying. "I have given clear instructions that all rights to challenge the extradition in the U.S. should be waived and no other options available to me should be pursued in order to facilitate an immediate return to Ireland."

A lawyer for Drumm declined to comment on the Irish newspaper report.

The hearing had initially been scheduled for Monday but was delayed due to a snowstorm.

Drumm faces charges in Ireland including forgery, conspiracy and false accounting for fraudulent loans the bank made in 2008 intended to help prop up its share price, which was plummeting during the global financial crisis.

An Irish court in July sentenced three lower-ranking executives of the bank to serve 18 to 36 months in prison, making them the first bankers jailed since the country's financial crash. ($1 = 0.8875 euro)