Shocking allegations in suppressed Miskelly ﬁle

July-August 2018

NEWS

Shocking allegations

in suppressed

Miskelly ﬁle

N EXPLOSIVE document released to the

Public Accounts Committee by County Down

developer, John Miskelly, contains a number

of extraordinar y claims which, if proven, will

severely damage the already tarnished rep-

utation of many people involved in the sale of Project

Eagle portfolio by NAMA to US fund Cerberus in 2014.

Unfortunately, the PAC has been legally advised that

it cannot call public hearings into the allegations made

against former, and some current, senior NAMA ofﬁ-

cials, senior politicians in the North, accountants,

solicitors and others associated with the sale of the

agency’s entire Northern Ireland portfolio.

Instead, the document will be examined by the Com-

mission of Investigation into the controversial Project

Eagle sale, chaired by former High Cour t judge, Johnny

Cooke, which has already been delayed by several

months due to the failure of NAMA to provide docu-

mentation sought by the inquiry.

Fifty-four year old John Miskelly is a developer from

County Down who once had a property empire across

the UK and Ireland estimated to have been worth over

175m. He once considered buying Liverpool FC. Several

of his loans were taken over by Cerberus when it

bought Project Eagle from NAMA in 2014. A BBC record-

ing of Miskelly, who feared being shut down by the

NAMA sale, reveals him saying that Gareth Robinson,

son of former First monister Peter Robinson, adbvised

hime to contact Frank Cushnahan, who has claimed he

was due to be paid a 'ﬁxer's fee' over the £1bn prop-

erty loans deal.

The 179-page document written by Miskelly has also

been provided to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS)

and the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the North and

other relevant authorities. The NCA, in particular, will

study it carefully as among other sensational claims,

Miskelly has alleged that its investigation into his

claims is solely focused on the protection of vested

political, ﬁnancial and business interests rather than

getting to the truth of alleged corporate corruption on

a massive scale.

Miskelly claims that the search of his home and his

arrest last year were based on a misleading application

made by the NCA to the Belfast County Court in April

2017 which, he claims, misrepresented or excluded

statements he voluntarily made to the police over sev-

eral months previously.

While the NCA application may be ﬂawed and fails

accurately to represent Miskelly’s detailed allegations

of the alleged briber y and fraud involved in the Project

Eagle purchase and sale, it nonetheless contains sig-

niﬁcant new information on the controversy and those

implicated in the £1.24 billion asset sale to Cerberus.

Among the familiar names contained in the NCA

statement are the former Head of Asset Recovery at

NAMA, Ronnie Hanna; the former member of NAMA’s

Northern Ireland Advisory Committee (NIAC), Frank

Cushnahan; former senior partner with Belfast law ﬁrm,

Tughans, Ian Coulter; and a partner in London-based

law ﬁrm Brown Rudnick, Tuvi Keinan.

by Frank Connolly

Ronnie Hanna’s role as head of asset

recovery brings the controversy into

the heart of the NAMA operation

If true, John Miskelly’s Statement to

the PAC tarnishes many involved in the

purchase of Project Eagle

July-August 2018

Also named are Gareth Robinson, public rela-

tions consultant and son of former ﬁrst minister

and DUP leader, Peter Robinson; and David

Gray, an accountant with RSM McClure Watters.

These along with Miskelly are named in the NCA

application as people of interest. The NCA is

investigating criminal offences including brib-

ery, fraud, money-laundering and attempts to

pervert the course of justice. No-one has been

formally charged with any such offences and

all of the claims contained in Miskelly's state-

ment and in the NCA application for a search

warrant of his home are only allegations.

Anyone familiar with the Project Eagle saga

which has prompted no less than three repor ts:

by the Comptroller and Auditor General, the

Public Accounts Committee and the Stormont

Finance commit tee, will be familiar with the list

of those upon whom the NCA has focused its

inquiries.

Hanna, a former executive with Ulster Bank

in Belfast, was the key driver of the tender pro-

cess which resulted in Cerberus acquiring the

portfolio, for £1.2 billion (reduced from a par

value of £4.5 billion) in June 2014. The previ-

ous frontrunner, California-based fund PIMCO

was forced out of the competition in March

2014 due to scandal associated with promised

fee payments of up to £5m to Frank

Cushnahan.

Hanna’s role as head of asset recover y brings

the controversy into the heart of the NAMA

operation.

Cushnahan has been a close advisor to Peter

Robinson for many years and was advising

seven debtors whose loans were in the Project

Eagle bundle. He was also in receipt of large

payments from Miskelly and other developers

while a member of the Northern Ireland Advi-

sory Committee (NIAC) of NAMA.

Ian Coulter set up the Isle of Man account in

which £7m was lodged as intended payments

for some of those involved in putting together

the deal. The disclosure by Mick Wallace in July

2015 that some of this money was intended for

a leading politician or party in the North ﬁrst

brought the controversy to public attention and

led to Coulter’s sudden departure from

Tughans.

Gareth Robinson introduced Miskelly to

Cushnahan and also obtained monies from the

developer for PR services, including a £4000

cash payment he told police was a gift for his

new born son. David Gray met Miskelly and

Cushnahan on several occasions and was pre-

sent when the issue of promised fee payments

to Cushnahan from the Cerberus deal was dis-

cussed in a Belfast hotel in 2015 and secretly

recorded for a BBC

Spotlight

programme.

Tuvi Keinan of Brown Rudnick was the key

ﬁgure who worked closely with Hanna, Coulter,

Cushnahan and others in putting the Project

Eagle together ﬁrst on behalf of PIMCO and

then with Cerberus. He received the £15m in

fees from Cerberus of which he was due to

receive £5m with the balance allegedly to go

to Coulter, Cushnahan and others.

Miskelly provided audio recordings of the

incriminatory discussions with Cushnahan, Gray

and others to the NC A which provided the basis

for their investigation and for their application

to search the developers home last year.

In his detailed statement, Miskelly has

described as “unfounded, false and malicious”

the allegation that he was involved in any of

the offences set out in the NCA’s application

for the search warrant of his home and has said

that it was he who provided much of the infor-

mation used by the NCA to build up the

charges, in the ﬁrst place.

In the brief media ﬂurry that followed the

delivery of his statement to the PAC in late

June, his payment of £4000 to Gareth Robinson

was highlighted. According to the NCA applica-

tion for the search warrant which is included in

Miskelly’s dossier, Robinson told police inves-

tigators that the money was a gift from the

developer for his new-born son. Miskelly insists

that it was a lawful fee payment for services

provided by Robinson and his PR ﬁrm, Verba-

tim, and that it was recorded in the developer's

company accounts and to the HMRC, as such.

According to the sensational transcripts of

conversations secretly recorded by Miskelly at

meetings and in phone calls with Cushnahan

and others, Gareth Robinson also received

another payment of £5000 from the

developer.

Another intriguing claim made by Cushnahan

during one of the recorded conversations is

that Peter Robinson provided a sensitive Mem-

orandum of Understanding agreed between the

Irish government and the Northern Ireland

executive to a prominent property developer

in the North. It was obtained by Alan Mains a

former RUC member who once served in Rob-

inson’s personal protection team. According to

Miskelly, his information was used in the

unnamed developer’s negotiations with Cer-

berus af ter NAMA sold his loans to the US fund

in 2014.

Peter Robinson also asked Cushnahan to

meet with a representative of the developer in

order to assist him in his negotiations with

NAMA. Cushnahan was an advisor to NAMA as

a member of its NIAC at the time.

According to the Miskelly statement, senior

NAMA executives including Hanna and the

chairman of the agency, Frank Daly were aware

that Cushnahan was acting as paid advisor to

Miskelly and a number of other property

John Miskelly with Frank Cushnahan and

accountant David Gray, covertly ﬁlmed by

BBC's Spotlight

developers whose loans were part of the Project Eagle

portfolio. Indeed, the statement alleges that Hanna

approved the fee payments by Miskelly to

Cushnahan.

Hanna was present in a meeting in the Stormont

Hotel in Belfast in December 2012 which was also

attended by the NAMA deputy head of asset recovery,

Johnathan Milligan, Cushnahan, Gray and Miskelly to

discuss the latter’s loan including those attached to

the Ten Square hotel in the city. According to Miskelly’s

account of the meeting it was suggested that the

attendance of Hanna in the meeting was not to be

disclosed.

A meeting of the NIAC of Nama took place in the hotel

immediately after the discussion with Miskelly. NAMA

chairman, Frank Daly was aware of the advisory work

Cushnahan was doing for a number of developers and

that he was paid for this work while serving on the

NIAC. Miskelly claimed that he informed senior NAMA

executives that conﬁdential information concerning his

assets and their valuation by the agency was being

distributed to potential bidders for Project Eagle.

According to Miskelly, Cerberus was in unlawful pos-

session of conﬁdential information about his loans and

the NAMA valuation of his assets and was therefore

involved, as was PIMCO, in ‘insider trading’. He claims

that NAMA executives provided ‘insider information’ to

bidders for Project Eagle. He also asserts that the

agency ignored criminal complaints Miskelly had made

concerning Anglo Irish Bank before his loans were

transferred to NAMA.

“I have provided evidence to the NCA that Cerberus

received the ‘insider ﬁnancial information’ from NAMA

that was then used in its bid for the Northern Ireland

loan book,” Miskelly has alleged in his lengthy state-

ment. “I have also provided audio evidence that a

senior NAMA ofﬁcial was to beneﬁt from Cerberus’s

purchase of the Northern Ireland Loan Book.” This is a

reference to the meeting he held with Cushnahan and

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July-August 2018

NEWS

In his detailed statement, Miskelly has dismissed the

allegation that he was involved in any of the offences

set out in the NCA’s application for the search

warrant of his home and has said that it was he who

provided much of the information in the ﬁrst place

Revealing transcript of taped conversations between Miskelly and Cushnahan from 2012-2016

July-August 2018

1 1

Gray in the Malmaison Hotel in Belfast in April 2015

which was secretly recorded and later broadcast by

BBC

Spotlight

“The insider information supplied to and used by

Cerberus in their bid clearly identiﬁed the value of my

NAMA assets,” he claims. US law ﬁrm Brown Rudnick

traded insider information on his loans to both PIMCO

and Cerberus contrar y to Irish, UK and US law, Miskelly

has alleged. Similar complaints are made against Bel-

fast accountancy ﬁrm RSM McClure Watters and

Tughans Solicitors.

He also refers to another meeting with Cushnahan

at the Belfast City Hospital in August 2012, where Mis-

kelly was undergoing medical treatment and when he

handed over £40,000 to the advisor and NIAC member

and which was also secretly recorded by Miskelly and

later broadcast by BBC

Spotlight

“In respect of audio recordings I have already pro-

vided to the NCA, I paid Frank Cushnahan £40,000 at

a meeting in Belfast City Hospital on Friday 17th

August, 2012. As stated, payment of these professional

fees was authorised by Ronnie Hanna of NAMA. NAMA

had oversight of my business”, he states.

Referring to politicians, he has said that he has

informed the NCA of the role of senior Nor thern Ireland

politicians involved in the unlawful sale of the NI loan

book “including the involvement of a former First Min-

ister, other Stormont ministers and the former US

vice-president. One of the former Stormont ministers

is now a sitting member of parliament.” This is a refer-

ence to Peter Robinson, Dan Quayle and Sammy Wilson

who was ﬁnance minister when the Project Eagle deal

was been progressed in 2012 and 2013.

“I also provided the NCA with information relating

to another current sitting Member of Parliament alleg-

edly receiving bribes in respect of planning matters”.

Miskelly has said that a recording which proves this

allegation has been seized and retained by the NCA.

Despite his co-operation with the NC A investigation,

however, Miskelly has seen his status as a ”co-operat-

ing witness” altered to one of “vulnerable suspect”.

“What has developed during the NCA investigation

has been an orchestrated ef fort by the NC A to discredit

me in a process that I… participated in as a voluntary

witness and whistle-blower”, he claims. “I believe the

reason for what has ultimately resulted in an unlawful

campaign against me by the NCA is not just to discredit

me but to protect politicians and other vested interests

involved in widespread criminality from

investigation”.

He fur ther claims that the NCA investigation is being

managed “to ensure that NAMA, Cerberus and others

are excluded from proper investigation for solely politi-

cal reasons. The unlawful sale of Project Eagle has

signiﬁcant implications in both the Republic, the UK

and the USA”, Miskelly claims.

He claims that his home was searched in April 2017

after the NCA obtained a warrant from a Crown Court

judge which was based on “deliberate misrepresenta-

tions”. He claims that he suffered a sepsis infection

causing serious risk to his already poor health as the

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July-August 2018

NEWS

Cushnahan claims that Peter Robinson

provided a sensitive Memorandum of

Understanding agreed between the Irish

government and the NI Executive to a

prominent property developer in the North

Gareth and Peter

Robinson: good times

Frank Cushnahan: audio recording

reveals he was paid £40k by

Miskelly in 2012

July-August 2018

1 3

result of the contamination of medical equip-

ment during what he describes as the unlawful

search of his home. He also claims he was

denied access to his legal representatives

after he was arrested by PSNI and NCA ofﬁc-

ers in August 2017.

The application for the search warrant of his

home conﬁrms that the NCA used information

Miskelly had provided to it concerning what

he described as the “illegal” purchase of the

Project Eagle.

“Its purchase was illegal. I was victim of this

crime. I am appalled that I have been treated

as a suspect by the NCA”, he contends.

The other claims made by the County Down

developer include alleged corruption, bribery

and fraud involving former senior ofﬁcials of

Anglo Irish Bank in Belfast before his loans

were passed over by the bank to NAMA, with

others transferred to the IBRC.

He also claims that Cerberus and PIMCO,

two US funds which tendered for the Project

Eagle portfolio were in possession of conﬁ-

dential information on Miskelly’s assets in

advance of their bids. PIMCO withdrew from

the Project Eagle tender process after it

revealed that it had promised Cushnahan a

share of a £15m ﬁnder’s fee if its bid was suc-

cessful. The US fund's legal advisers

determined that the promised payment was in

potential breach of the US Foreign Corruption

Act.

According to Miskelly, Cerberus too was in

unlawful possession of conﬁdential informa-

tion about his loans and the NAMA valuation

of his assets and was therefore involved, as

was PIMCO, in insider trading.

Miskelly also claims that NAMA executives

accepted gifts for themselves and their wives

from Cushnahan and from developers whose

distressed loans were controlled by the

agency.

Cushnahan has been a close

advisor to Peter Robinson and

was advising seven debtors

whose loans were in the Project

Eagle bundle. He was also in

receipt of large payments from

Miskelly and other developers

while a member of NAMA’s NI

Advisory Committee

NCA Application for warrant to search Miskelly

home in April 2017

.....