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8
July-August 2018
NEWS
Shocking allegations
in suppressed
Miskelly file
A
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
9
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
1 0
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
1 2
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
.....
