When senior executives at AIB began scrutinising the financial data at Goodbody Stockbrokers, the first thing that jumped off the page was not how much the broker was making or how much excess cash it had on its balance sheet. Instead, it was the sum of €700,000 paid by the state to Goodbody in Covid-19 wage supports. The wage subsidy scheme had been introduced in March to help companies most impacted by the crisis and offered a subsidy to companies who had seen a fall in turnover of more than 25 per cent. Given the numbers showed that Goodbody was…