1 0 March 2016
NEWS
A
ninvestigationbyBBC’s'Spotlight'
programme broadcase on, 29th
February,intothesaleofNAMA’s
hugepropertyportfolioinNorthern
Irelandhasrevivedanembarrass-
ingissuefortheoutgoinggovernment.
Villagereaderswillrecallhowdistressed
commercialandresidentialproperties,previ-
ouslyvaluedat£4.5billion,weresoldtoUS
vulturefundCerberus,forjust£1.2billionin
April2014.AnarticleinDecemberdocumented
howthesalewasnowthesubjectofinvestiga-
tions in the USand the UK and by the Law
SocietyandtheStormontnancecommitteein
NorthernIreland.
At thecentre ofthe controversy is former
NAMAofcial,RonnieHanna,whoresignedas
theagency’sHeadofAssetRecoverysixmonths
afterthesaleoftheportfolioknownas‘Project
Eagle’.HannawasnamedintheDáilbyinde-
pendentTD,MickWallace,asoneofasmall
groupofpeoplewhometmulti-billion-dollar-
backedUSinvestmentfundstopromotethe
sale ofthe portfolio, accompanied by Frank
Cushnahan,aformermemberofNAMA’sNorth-
ernIrelandAdvisoryCommittee.
ItwasalsosensationallyclaimedattheStor-
mont hearings in September last that
Cushnahan;Belfastaccountant,DavidWatters;
formerpartnerinTughan’ssolicitors,JohnCoul-
ter;propertydeveloper,AndrewCreighton;and
former DUP leader,PeterRobinson, wereto
receivesubstantialsumsfromtheProjectEagle
sale.Alldeniedtheallegations.
CushnahanandCoulter,alongwithUSlaw
rmBrownRudnick,weretotake€15millionin
fee payments from another US investment
fund,Pimco,ifitsbidforthepropertyportfolio
wassuccessful.Pimcowithdrewfromthepro-
cessinearly2014afteritscomplianceofcers
advisedthatsuchpaymentswouldbeillegal,
underUSlaw.
InMarch2014,NAMAinformednancemin-
ister, Michael Noonan, of the dodgy fee
arrangementsbeingofferedinconnectionwith
what is the largest ever disposal of public
assetsinthehistoryofthestate.Insteadofcall-
inganimmediatehalttothebiddingprocessthe
nanceministeradvisedNAMAtoploughahead
withthesale.
Noonanseemedimplicitlytoconsiderthat
theethicalproblemswereattheotherend,in
Belfast.AndthattheBelfastofcedidn’treally
reectontheDublinofce.Theproblemfor
NoonanandNAMAisthatifHannaisinvolved
inwrongdoingthatbringstheculpabilityright
backintotheDublinofceandtheremitofthe
Irishgovernment
Cushnahan and Coulter then encouraged
Cerberustoentertheraceintheclearexpecta-
tionthatfeepaymentswouldbemadeifitsbid
was successful. The Spot,ight programme
revealedthatCushnahanmisledhisformercol-
leaguesinNAMAbycontinuingsecretlytowork
ontheCerberusdealwithouttheirknowledge.
Cushnahan confirmed in a clandestinely
recordeddiscussionlastyearwithBelfastprop-
ertydeveloper,JohnMiskellyandaccountant
DavidGray,associateofWaters,thathewas
duetogeta“xer’sfee”fromthe Cerberus
deal.HesaidthatheandCoulterhaddone“all
theworkon the deal”buthisrolewaskept
secretbecauseofobjectionsfromNAMAtohis
involvement.
CushnahansaidthatCoultermoved£6mil-
lionintoaholdingaccountforhimsohecould
bepaid.
Duringtherecordeddiscussion,referenceis
Cerberus conflicts are
biggest financial and political
issue facing NI Executive
And BBC 'Spotlight''s implication of Hanna
brings matter of illegal ‘fixers’ firmly back to
NAMA and Irish government
by Frank Connolly
March 2016 1 1
madetoassistanceprovidedbyRonnieHanna
to distressed developers. There is also a
descriptionofhowPeterRobinson’ssonGareth
advisedMiskellytogotoCushnahanabouthis
NAMA-controlleddebts.Miskellyconrmedto
theBBCthattherecordingswereanaccurate
reectionofthelunchmeetingwithCushnahan
andpartofaneffortbyhimtoexposethenan-
cial misconductsurroundingthe sale of the
ProjectEagleportfoliowhichisunderinvestiga-
tion by the US Securities and Exchange
CommissionandtheNationalCrimeAgencyin
Britain. Miskelly claims he has handed evi-
denceofwrongdoingtoboth.
Cerberus has denied any wrongdoing in
respectofthepurchase,whilerefusingtopro-
vide answers to detailedqueries due to the
ongoingcriminalinquiries.Similarly,Cushna
-
han;Hannawhorunsaprivateconsultancyin
Belfast;andRobinson,havedeclinedtocom-
mentfurther.Robinsonsurprisedmanywhen
heannouncedhisretirementasrstministeras
hearingsintotheProjectEaglesaleweretaking
placelastAutumn.VillagedocumentedinJanu-
aryhowGerryAdamshadineffecttelegraphed
Robinsononhisneed–inthecontextofethical
issuesrelatingtotheNAMAdebacleofwhich
Adamswasapprised-toreinstitutethethen
suspendedNorthernExecutive.
Robinson and former finance minister,
SammyWilson,wereinvolvedindiscussions
withNoonanandNAMAtotrytominimisethe
exposuretopersonalguaranteesofanumber
ofprominentdevelopersinBelfastandacross
theNorthinrespectoftheirdebtstakenonby
theagency.Lastyear,itemergedthatRobinson
heldmeetingswithformerUSpresidentDan
Quayle,chairmanofCerberus,andhaddiscus-
sions on the sale with Noonan, without
disclosing themtohis deputyrstminister,
MartinMcGuinness.
It now transpires thatCushnahanwas on
threesidesofthedealhavingworkedforNAMA,
someofthebiddersaswellasforthedistressed
developers.
Thelatestexplosiverevelationsprompted
SinnFéinleader,GerryAdams,torepeatacall
for a Commission of Investigation into the
NAMAsale.
Cushnahan was on three
sides of the deal having
worked for NAMA, some
of the bidders as well
as for the distressed
developers
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