The chief executive of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) said on Thursday the Gardai were not informed about a potential criminal offence linked to the sale of the Northern Ireland loan book in March 2014.
Brendan McDonagh was the latest witness called to give evidence at a trial being held in Belfast Crown Court.
Two men face charges arising from the sale of Nama’s Northern Ireland property loan book, known as Project Eagle.
Ian Coulter (54), a former managing partner of Tughans solicitors who is from Templepatrick Road in Ballyclare, has been charged with five offences from April 3 to December 1, 2014.
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His 83-year old co-accused, former corporate financier Frank Hugh Cushnahan, from Alexandra Gate in Holywood, has had two counts of fraud over a period from April 1 to November 7, 2013 levelled against him.
Both men have denied the charges, It is the prosecution’s case that they were both involved in brokering a deal to purchase the Northern Ireland loan book and were set to benefit from a multimillion pound success fee.
The jury of nine men and three woman has already heard that in March 2014, a £1.2 billion deal to sell the Northern Ireland property portfolio to US investment fund Pimco fell through.
This, the court heard, was due to concerns held by Pimco concerning Cushnahan’s position as an external member of the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee (NIAC) which was set up by Nama to advise in respect of the property debts in Northern Ireland.
Cushnahan’s barrister, Frank O’Donoghue KC, questioned Mr McDonagh about the events of March 2014 when Nama was informed by Pimco that his client was potentially to be the recipient of a success fee which led to the firm’s withdrawal from the process.
Mr O’Donoghue stated that Mr Cushnahan was never contacted by Nama about this issue when it arose and when he was asked why not, Mr McDonagh said that in March 2014 Cushnahan was “no longer a member” of NIAC.
Saying Mr Cushnahan was “readily contactable”, Mr O’Donoghue said “it seems to be that nobody in Nama thought to pick up the phone and speak to him about this.”
Mr McDonagh replied “not at the time, no.”
The defence barrister then said “if the allegation was correct, the conduct was potentially a criminal offence in the Republic of Ireland.”
Mr O’Donoghue then asked Mr McDonagh if he, as the CEO, or anyone else in Nama “thought to report Mr Cushnahan” to either the Gardai or the Standards of Public Office?
The witness replied: “At the time it was an allegation made by information provided by Pimco, that’s all we knew.”
Saying this was an issue that was going to “scupper the deal”, Mr O’Donoghue asked Mr McDonagh “surely that was a matter to be reported by Nama either to the Guards or to the Standards of Public Office.”
When the barrister asked the witness “this didn’t happen, isn’t that right?”, Mr McDonagh replied “that did not happen at the time, no.”
