From top: Brian Hayes, CEO of the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland; place setting at the Oireachtas Golf Society dinner
While @PhilHoganEU is taking the limelight @brianhayesBPFI I think is a bigger story. Surely someone can confirm who the +3 at his table were. Any truth that it was 3 directors from Vulture fund Promontoria? #golfgate @rtenews#rtept @TodaywithClaire @RTE_PrimeTime @rtetwip
— Paul McElroy (@1paulmcel) August 25, 2020
Anyone?
Promontoria is New York-based equity fund Cerberus’s Irish operation. Among its many holdings in Ireland, it purchased over 5,000 Ulster Bank mortgages with a face value of €1.6billion, and was central to the Project Eagle shenanigans.
Thursday UPDATE:
Mr Hayes says that his guests, listed on the event’s seating plan, were school friends and not directors of a vulture fund, a rumour which has spread on social media.
“They have no involvement in banking/financial services. I’ve seen the social media claims about vulture funds etc and it’s all made up. They are personal friends of mine for over 30 years.
“On lobbying – I was invited as a former member and attended in a private capacity while on holiday. I did not lobby anyone about anything.”
Mr Hayes has said that he would not be standing down from his role, saying that he is “a private citizen“.
Hayes says social media speculation over his golf dinner guests is ‘all made up’ (Irish Examiner)