A former executive vice-president of a US investment fund on Wednesday confirmed a decision to withdrawn from a deal to purchase the Northern Ireland loan book was taken by the firm’s legal team.
Laurent Luccioni, who at the relevant time was a senior figure within Pimco, was the latest witness to give evidence at a fraud trial being held at Belfast Crown Court.
Ian George Coulter (54), a former managing partner of Tughans solicitors from Templepatrick Road in Ballyclare, has been charged with five offences over a time frame of April 3 to December 1, 2014.
His 83-year old co-accused Frank Hugh Cushnahan, from Alexandra Gate in Holywood, faces two charges spanning a period from April 1st to November 7th, 2013.
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Both men have denied all the charges which relate to the sale of the Northern Ireland property loan book held by the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA).
Mr Luccioni gave his evidence from Arizona via video-link and after confirming he could see and hear the proceedings, he said he left Pimco in 2020.
Questioned by prosecuting barrister Jonathan Kinnear KC, Mr Luccioni confirmed that as part of his former role at Pimco, he was a member of the company’s Bravo Investment Committee (BIC) during the relevant time period. The committee evaluated investment opportunities for the company.
He also confirmed that he was James Gilbert’s line manager.
Mr Gilbert, another former vice-president of Pimco, has already given evidence in the trial and said his role at the time was to source and execute real estate-related investments for the firm.
Mr Kinnear asked Mr Luccioni if, in or around May 2013, Mr Gilbert told him about a potential opportunity for the purchase of the Northern Ireland loan book, which became known as Project Eagle.
Confirming this, Mr Luccioni said it was agreed the deal was something worth pursuing and progress reported back to the BIC.
Mr Kinnear then asked Mr Luccioni about travelling to Belfast on May 23rd, 2013 for a meeting at Stormont with the then First Minister Peter Robinson and Sammy Wilson, who at the time was the finance minister.
Mr Luccioni said he went with Mr Gilbert and another figure from Pimco and that before going to Stormont, he met Mr Cushnahan and Mr Coulter.
When asked what role Mr Cushnahan played at those meetings, Mr Luccioni described him as having a “broker role in terms of introducing us to Stormont and he had a relationship with Nama.”
Mr Luccioni was also asked about Mr Coulter’s role and he said he believed he was a “lawyer looking after the legal aspect of it.”
Mr Kinnear then asked the witness about a series of emails regarding members of the BIC setting out their thoughts and raising any queries or issues they had.
The prosecutor said at this stage a success fee being paid to the “sponsors” was discussed.
Mr Kinnear asked Mr Luccioni if there came a time when Pimco’s legal department “raised an issue in relation to the payment of the success fee”.
Saying that from a commercial point of view there were going to be concerns about “the alignment of interests” regarding a success fee, Mr Luccioni said that from a legal point of view “disclosure” was sought.
He added that as far as he knew, the Northern Ireland Government “was aware” of the success fee and as he understood at that point Nama “was not aware yet but it was always the plan that they would be made aware of it before the transaction proceeded”.
As the jury has already heard, Pimco withdrew its interest in purchasing the Northern Ireland loan book in March 2014.
When he was asked if he knew why this was, Mr Luccioni said this decision was made by Pimco’s legal team and that he was not involved in that decision-making process.
