Tag Archives: Nama

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Chairman of NAMA Frank Daly and Finance Minister Michael Noonan

You may recall the sale of Nama’s property loan portfolio in Northern Ireland – the biggest loss on a Nama loan sale for Irish taxpayers.

The sale is now the subject of investigation by the National Crime Agency in the UK and the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US.

You may also recall how Stormont’s Committee for Finance and Personnel carried out a ‘fact-finding’ review of the sale for eight months.

Publication of an 18-page report on the progress of this review was embargoed until just after midnight this morning.

It criticised Nama and Finance Minister Michael Noonan – specifically for Nama refusing to give oral evidence to the committee; for Minister Noonan not encouraging Nama to give the same; and for Minister Noonan not stopping the sale of the Northern Ireland portfolio once he became aware that bidders PIMCO were due to send a sum of money to Northern Ireland Nama advisor, Frank Cushnahan.

From the report…

For its part, DFP [Department of Finance and Personnel] provided initial oral evidence and papers on 23 July 2015, but subsequently delayed providing further evidence until 9 October 2015, after it had concluded an internal file review and engaged with the NCA.

NAMA, on the other hand, while agreeing to answer questions in writing, refused to give oral evidence. The reason cited by NAMA is that the appropriate forum to which it should account for its activities is the Oireachtas and to committees established by the Oireachtas.

While the Committee does not dispute this point, it believes greater co-operation from NAMA would have assisted it in fully understanding the DFP-NAMA relationship since 2009.

And:

As with the oral and written evidence received from the other stakeholders, including the documents received from the Republic of Ireland’s (RoI) Department of Finance and NAMA, the Committee placed the DFP papers in the public domain, except for seventeen documents relating to individual borrowers.

In this latter case, DFP cited data protection and commercial sensitivity concerns for its request that the documents were not to be released. The Committee, however, took legal advice on this matter and continues to pursue the issue with DFP.

And:

In addition to the aforementioned evidence gathering exercise, the Committee accepted an invite from the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to make a formal address on the progress of the review. This invitation was made in light of the respective committee inquiries into the Project Eagle sale.

During the address on 1 October 2015, the Chairperson also took the opportunity to point out that there was an increased onus on NAMA to appear before the Committee, even simply out of courtesy and respect for the institutions in Northern Ireland.

And:

The Committee notes with regret the decision of the NAMA Board not to suspend the Project Eagle sales process once PIMCO had disclosed to the Agency in March 2014 that PIMCO’s proposed fee arrangement with the Brown Rudnick international law firm included also the payment of fees to Tughans, a Belfast law firm, and to a former external member of NAMA NIAC. From the evidence to date, the Committee considers this development to be a core area of concern within the entire sale and purchase process. The need for further information and clarification in this regard underlines the case for NAMA attending an oral hearing of the Committee.

Whilst it is does not fall to this Committee to pursue, given the seriousness of the revelation by PIMCO, it is unclear why the Irish Government’s Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, did not intervene at this point, by exercising his general powers of direction over NAMA to suspend the sales process until matters were investigated fully. The Committee also notes that Minister Noonan did not inform the Northern Ireland Executive of this development. In addition, the Committee regrets that Minister Noonan did not encourage NAMA to attend an oral hearing of the Committee.

And:

The Committee established that NAMA ‘…had no knowledge of meetings between Mr Cushnahan and prospective purchasers of NAMA-secured assets in Northern Ireland…’ including whilst he was on the NAMA NIAC. This is deeply concerning to the Committee.

And:

The Committee also noted from the BBC (NI) Spotlight programme that the other former external member of the NAMA NIAC, Mr Brian Rowntree, stated that the NIAC members had access to information which was of a ‘commercially sensitive nature’ and which offered ‘commercial opportunity’ and would have been of some value to a bidder for Project Eagle.

This is of particular significance as it appears to contradict the position adopted by NAMA to date. For example, in written evidence to the Committee on 27 November 2015, NAMA stated that the external members of the NAMA NIAC ‘never had access to confidential information’. Furthermore, in evidence to the Dáil PAC on 9 July 2015, the NAMA Chairman, Mr Frank Daly, stated that the external members of the NAMA NIAC ‘did not gain any confidential information or any useful insider information from being a member of that advisory committee’.

Therefore, given these seemingly contradictory positions, the Committee recommends that a full examination is made of what precisely was discussed at the NAMA NIAC meetings and what information was shared with the NIAC members.

And:

The Committee found the refusal of NAMA to attend an oral evidence session particularly unhelpful. NAMA needed to be more open and accessible given the importance of the Project Eagle portfolio to the Northern Ireland economy. The Committee does not accept NAMA’s rationale for not attending an oral hearing of the Committee, especially given that Agency representatives have previously held many meetings with Ministers and officials in Northern Ireland.

Read the report in full here

Previously: Spotlight Falls On Noonan

Mark Stedman/Rollingnews

H/T: Namawinelake

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From top: Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Michael Noonan and Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson; Minutes of a meeting between Mr Robinson and Mr Noonan in which they discuss the sale of Northern Ireland’s Nama portfolio; and a clip of a secretly recorded meeting involving Frank Cushnahan – both on BBC Northern Ireland’s Spotlight last night

You may recall how Independent TD Mick Wallace, on several occasions in the Dáil last year, raised concerns about the sale of Nama’s Northern Ireland property portfolio, Project Eagle, in 2014.

On the first occasion, in July 2015, his microphone was turned off.

On another, in October 2015, after making yet another call for a Commission of Investigation into the Project Eagle sale, Mr Wallace told Taoiseach Enda Kenny:

“The Irish people have not been served well by Nama. It stinks to high heaven and you are involved in the cover-up because you refuse to do anything about it.”

The sale is now the subject of investigation by the National Crime Agency in the UK and the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US.

Further to this.

Last night, BBC Northern Ireland’s Spotlight programme, presented by Mandy McAuley, outlined the sequence of events which led to the portfolio eventually being sold to US private equity firm, Cerebus Capital.

Contributors to the programme included Sunday Business Post journalist Elaine Byrne and Independent Alliance TD and Sunday Independent journalist Shane Ross.

Ms McAuley first explained how former banker Frank Cushnahan is an “incredibly well-connected” Belfast businessman who, nine years ago, left his position as an advisor to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to become chairman of east Belfast firm Red Sky – a company that worked for the Housing Executive.

She explained that Mr Cushnahan convinced the Housing Executive to forgive most of Red Sky’s debts so that its debts went from £250,000 to £20,000.

His behaviour was later criticised by a Stormont investigation which found his actions to be “totally unethical and could and should have been avoided”.

Two years later, in 2009, £4.5billion of Nama’s debt was owed by developers in Northern Ireland and politicians feared there would be a fire sale of property, prompting property rises to drop – a fear Northern Ireland’s Finance Minister Sammy Wilson told BBC’s Spotlight in 2011.

These fears, Ms McAuley explained, prompted the establishment of Nama’s Northern Ireland Advisory Committee.

And who did Sammy Wilson choose to sit on that committee?

Frank Cushnahan – who, Ms McAuley reported, held clinics for developers in Nama, where he would tell developers “how to survive” Nama.

Continue reading →

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A video compilation showing Independent TD Mick Wallace’s efforts to highlight his concerns surrounding Nama over the past several months.

It follows the Commercial Court granting summary judgment for €2million against Mr Wallace earlier today – in relation to an Ulster Bank loan taken over by a company called Promontoria (Aran) Limited, a subsidiary of Cerberus Capital.

Mr Wallace had argued that the assignment of the loan to Promontoria was not valid but Mr Justice Brian McGovern disagreed.

Previously: ‘Cerberus Told Me I Was Going To Get Sorted’

High Court grants judgement for €2m against Mick Wallace (RTE)

Video by Strawberry Films

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Former Nama adviser Frank Cushnahan

Five months after Independent TD Mick Wallace first raised concerns about the sale of Nama’s northern Ireland portfolio in the Dáil…

BBC reports:

“The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) has written to a former adviser asking him why he did not disclose potential conflicts of interest.

“Frank Cushnahan sat on Nama’s Northern Ireland advisory committee from 2010 until November 2013.”

“A Stormont inquiry heard he met the Pimco investment fund in May 2013 to discuss Nama’s Northern Ireland loans.”

“Nama has asked him to comment on how he determined he was not required to tell them about that meeting.”

“It has also asked him to provide details of any other meetings with Pimco or “other parties” in relation to the possible sale of the Northern Ireland loans portfolio.”

“Mr Cushnahan went on to advise Pimco after he left his Nama role and was in line to receive a £5m fee if its bid for the portfolio was successful, an Irish parliamentary committee was told.”

“… Nama has also asked Mr Cushnahan why he did not disclose his shareholding in the Graham property group, which was a Nama debtor.”

“…Mr Cushnahan has always denied any wrongdoing in relation to his Nama role.”

Meanwhile…


Nama deal: Frank Cushnahan asked to explain non-disclosure of potential conflicts of interest (BBC)

Cushnahan may face State ethics watchdog over Project Eagle deal (Irish Times)

Previously: ‘Nama’s Answer To My Question Is Not True’

The Eagle Has Landed

“What Did They Get The €5million For?”

Project Eagle And The €3.5 Billion Haircut

Pic: Irish News

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Political blogger Jamie Bryson, above, won’t be attending the Public Accounts Committee tomorrow, as originally planned.

Nama will be appearing before the committee tomorrow at 10am.

Mr Bryson told the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Finance Committee on September 23 that Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson [and four businessmen] were set to receive a ‘success’ fee following the sale of Nama’s NI portfolio.

Meanwhile, Mr Bryson’s written submission to the Northern Ireland committee can be read here

Previously: Nothing To See Here

‘Cerberus Told Me I Was Going To Get Sorted’

The Eagle Has Landed

UPDATE:

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From left: Ian Kehoe, editor of the Sunday Business Post, Independent TD Mick Wallace, Tara Deasy, community activist, political blogger Jamie Bryson, joint-leader of the Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy, Fine Gael Senator Martin Conway, Cliódhna Russell of TheJournal.ie and Siobhán O’Donoghue, of Uplift, on last night’s Tonight With Vincent Browne

You may recall how NAMA sold its Northern Ireland €5.7million loan book – known as Project Eagle – to US investment fund Cerberus for €1.6million in 2014.

In July Independent TD Mick Wallace told the Dáil that £7million was found in an Isle of Man account following an audit of Belfast law firm Tughans – which was hired by New York legal firm Brown Rudnick to help Cerberus buy Project Eagle.

Mr Wallace claimed part of that  £7million was earmarked for a Northern Ireland politician or party.

On foot of these claims, the UK’s National Crime Agency and the US authorities are investigating the sale.

Readers will also recall how, yesterday during Leaders’ Questions, Mr Wallace told the Dáil that he was summoned to a meeting by a ‘public figure’ during which he was warned by a ‘leading member of Cerberus Ireland’ that he was ‘going to get sorted’.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny told Mr Wallace to take his concerns to a member of the Public Accounts Committee.

Last night, the matter was discussed on TV3’s Tonight With Vincent Browne.

Ian Kehoe: “I suppose Nama’s always been, I suppose, a state within a state. It’s almost impenetrable to find out exactly what’s been going on there. Part of that was out of necessity, part of it was that it was created so quickly. The position of Nama in relation to this and the position of the Government would appear to be and I think they’ve acknowledged privately that they have concerns around the buyer side, not around the seller side. And therefore, they’re the sellers, so there’s no worries. I don’t really think that’s good enough. I don’t think it’s likely. But I mean the Government set up a Commission of Investigation into the IBRC – Catherine Murphy did a lot of work on that – and again there was no real, full evidence, you know there was no documents linking it all back but they established that Commission of Investigation very, very quickly. Even with Michael Noonan saying – well, in the end, compared to what they’re doing here, Catherine – but with the Michael Noonan thing, we don’t think there was any allegation, any wrongdoing there. In this case we know that there was 7million pounds Sterling in an Isle of Man bank account, we know that one of the world’s largest private equity firms was asked to exit the initial race because of some allegations over third-party fixers. And the allegations keep on coming. Yet the position of the Government has been, and we also know it’s being investigated, should I say, and parts of it are by the FBI, by the US Department of Justice and by various authorities in Britain and Ireland. And yet the position in this jurisdiction has been, ‘there’s nothing to see here, folks’, ‘it’s somebody else’s problem’. I’m not sure that’s good enough because I think it damages Nama, as an institution, for them to be constantly questioned in this way. I think we should have a look at examining what went on.”

Catherine Murphy: “There’s a culture of secrecy and that’s part of the problem and that’s the way Nama was set up. But this culture of secrecy within the political system as well and they’ll  just try and bat this away and hope that somebody like Mick Wallace, or myself when it was the IBRC, will stop making a nuisance of ourselves. The reality of it is with both Nama and IBRC, this Government accelerated the sale of these distressed assets at a point where property values were coming up and where you would have had an entitlement to get more: that’s an issue in its own right. That the public have an entitlement..”

Vincent Browne: “It’s a big issue.”

Murphy: “Absolutely huge issue. And it’s the people’s money that they have done this with and the only purpose that seems to be served on that is that they can say at the end of the day, ‘oh we closed it up two years earlier or three years earlier’…”

Browne: “And they talk about it getting a profit. Wait ’til you see, they’ll talk about getting a profit.”

Murphy: “Yeah, huge, huge losses that are public losses and, in terms of the secrecy, last year I had the same problem and earlier this year when I was looking for even replies to parliamentary questions on IBRC. I was told, Michael Noonan went on the radio and he said, that I could always apply through the Freedom of Information Act. Well I applied through the Freedom of Information Act in the same family of things in relation to IBRC last May. I was due a reply to that in June. It was batted ahead until July. I’m still waiting and I’m now preparing to go to the Information Commissioner to make a formal complaint. That is the kind of behaviour that we’ve come to expect – batting it into a committee – and I think Mick is right on this, batting it into a committee is trying to kind of move it over to a sideshow and actually not deal with the issue at hand. And they’re very serious allegations that have been made.”

Watch back in full here

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BsxRaGnlMk&feature=youtu.be

Independent TD Mick Wallace told the Dáil today that he was ‘summoned’ to a meeting by a ‘public figure’ during which he was warned by a ‘leading member of Cerberus Ireland’.

Mr Wallace said the message relayed to him was that he was ‘going to get sorted’.

Cerberus bought NAMA’s Northern Ireland loans, otherwise known as Project Eagle.

Mick Wallace: “Taoiseach, in January 2014, US investor Blackstone acquired three properties from Project Platinum for €100million. They’re now looking to offload them for €170 [million]. That’s a profit of 70%, not 7, 70. Despite the fact that the buildings were yielding around 6% per annum in rents while Nama’s costs of money was less than one. Still, there was a panic to sell them. Taoiseach, following Pimco’s allegations, regarding kickbacks for fixers, why did Nama allow the deal to proceed with the same players, Brown Rudnick and Tughan’s involved. Did Nama report the Pimco allegations to the relevant law enforcement of the Government? And if they did, when? In a confidential letter, from Brown Rudnick, the minister for finance in the North, Sammy Wilson, Brown Rudnick admit to acting for two clients with strong interests in Project Eagle. Brown Rudnick ended up acting for Pimco and Cerberus which isn’t legal. This matter is now being investigated by the Securities and Exchange in America. Why did Nama have no concerns about the involvement of Brown Rudnick and Tughan’s, despite the revelations? Taoiseach, the reserve price for Project Eagle was €1.3billion. This was adjusted to €1.24billion, in April 2014, to reflect, Nama told us, asset disposals which took place in the intervening period between the launch of the loan sale and its closing. Can you find out, Taoiseach, what are the details of these disposals? Can you tell me Taoiseach, why the reserve price was reduced by €60million? Could you find out if this is connected to reports of a developer whose loans were in Project Eagle and he came to Nama to complain about being approached by fixers who were looking for a backhand in order for him to buy his loans back at 50p in the pound from Cerberus in the autumn of 2013, months before Cerberus even bought it. Can you find out, Taoiseach, if Nama actually done a deal with this developer? Can you tell us what disposals were involved with this €60million? Taoiseach, I raised this with you before the summer. Why are you insisted on doing nothing about this? Why don’t you want to get answers to the questions that are being raised? We have loads of questions, and there’s more every week, but we’ve no answers. Why aren’t you interested?”

Enda Kenny: “It’s not a question of not having interest, Deputy. The issue in respect of Nama and the Northern Ireland portfolio, for instance, there are two investigations going on here, one by the police and one by the parliamentary commission. Questions have been answered at some considerable length here in the house by the Minister for Finance on this matter and whatever papers or correspondence is necessary and available will be presented to either of those two investigations. Now, Pimco was dropped as you’re aware. Under the legislation, setting up Nama, Nama are responsible to the Houses of the Oireachtas, they’re before the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday. I suggest that the questions you’ve just asked here, and any other questions you have, be given to a member of the Public Accounts Commmittee to ask Nama directly on Thursday. They are responsible to the Houses of the Oireachtas. You have made, you have made strong statements, you’ve made comments or allegations about fixers, about bags of money, I suggest to you, Deputy Wallace, that if you can back up that information, you should bring it to the notice of the Comptroller and Auditor General immediately and to the police authorities. These are very serious allegations. And the questions that you raise, can be legitimately asked of Nama, at the Public Accounts Committee on this Thursday, they are responsible to this House here. And in respect of the matter of the Northern Ireland portfolio, there are two investigations going on there, outside this jurisdiction.”

Wallace: “Taoiseach I get the impression that you’re trying to hide behind the fig leaf of Oireachtas committees, I’ve already been to the guards, I’ve been to the National Crime Agency, the British who are looking into it. I’ve already been to both of them. Right. What I can’t understand is why you don’t want to know anything about it. Cerberus are under investigation, criminal investigation, in two countries and they still haven’t been disqualified into looking at Project Arrow and threatening to buy it. Project Arrow has a par value of €7.2 [billion] and it looks like it might be sold for something in the region of €1billion, despite that we have…and 50% of it is residential units in the Republic and we have a housing crisis. Where’s the logic of selling Project Arrow to someone like Cerberus, who are being investigated for criminal activity in two countries. Taoiseach, you couldn’t make this up. It’s absolute nonsense. Now listen, I realise these are serious players and actually, only recently, I was summoned to a meeting by a public figure and a message was passed on to me from a leading member of Cerberus Ireland that I was going to get sorted. Now why would they have to say that, if I’m telling the truth? Why would they? Can you understand that? Taoiseach…”

Ceann Comhairle (Sean Barrett): “Sorry this is Leaders’ Questions.”

Wallace: “…Are you actually going to seriously allow the questions that are swirling around Nama, as I’ve said before, Taoiseach, the workings of Nama have left too much to be desired and there’s a lot rotten about it. And Taoiseach is it going to be on your legacy that you ignored all this? Is it going to be a part of your history that you choose to ignore what’s going on in Nama?”

Barrett: “Thank you.”

Kenny: “That’s another allegation that you make and it will not be a part of our history. Nama is responsible to the Houses of the Oireachtas here, of which you are a member. You come in here, week after week, with very strong statements and allegations, I can’t say whether what you say is true or not, or whether you can back that up. I’m glad you’ve gone to the police force, I’m glad you’ve gone to the crime investigations unit but you yourself maybe don’t want these questions raised or have somebody raise them for you at the body to whom Nama is responsible and through whom they’re responsible to this House here. It’s not good enough for you, Deputy Wallace, to come in here. And if you’re the centre of attention for receiving these kinds of allegations, I hope that when they’re made to you, that you demand that proof be given because you have full privilege in here and…”

Wallace: [Inaudible]

Kenny: “…and I’m sure, I’m quite sure Deputy Wallace that you want to use that with responsibility. If there’s an issue here, the questions have been asked and the questions that have been answered by Nama mean that there’s nothing wrong on the seller side. If there’s anything wrong, it seems to be on the purchaser’s side. So I’d suggest to you, you write out your list of questions, these can be raised. You want to find out the truth about these issues well then we need to use the facility available to public representation in the public interest to ask these questions. I’d like that you’d furnish, to the Public Accounts Committee, the basis of the evidence given to you that will make the allegations you make stand up.”

Previously: The Eagle Has Landed

Project Eagle And The €3.5billion Haircut

Who Took The Bribe-In-A-Bag?