Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness is scheduled to give evidence to the Stormont inquiry into Nama's sale of its northern portfolio today along with Jamie Bryson, the loyalist blogger and flag protester, who has made allegations about the transaction.
But not all members of the cross-party committee members agree that Mr Bryson’s evidence should be aired in public and members will first debate the issue before the evidence-gathering session formally gets under way.
Committee chairman Daithí McKay said transparency and accountability are key.The Sinn Féin MLA believes witnesses at the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Committee for Finance and Personnel should be heard in public.
“The public wants to see transparency and openness,” he said. “If some political parties have an issue with some of the evidence being put forward then it is up to their committee members to effectively scrutinise the witnesses to see if it stands up . . . Putting witnesses behind closed doors is not a good idea.”
Key players
The committee has asked a range of key players from the Law Society to local business people, representatives from Nama,
Cerberus
and senior politicians, North and South, to provide evidence .
Mr McGuinness is the first senior politician who has agreed to appear at the committee. Representatives from Nama have consistently refused to appear but it has responded by letter to questions posed by the committee.
Last week, Cerberus, the New York investment firm that acquired Nama’s portfolio for £1.2 billion, refused to appear at the inquiry despite previously agreeing to do so. Instead the investment firm said it was legally advised not to appear and provided a written submission to the committee.
The submission detailed how Cerberus had “contact” with some Northern Ireland politicians prior to its acquisition of the Nama portfolio.
Contact
Mr McGuinness says the only contact he had with Cerberus was on September 24th, 2014, after the sale of the loans portfolio. Cerberus has confirmed this.
Cerberus confirmed that it met Mr Robinson and Mr Hamilton before the acquisition. It stated that it acquired the Nama portfolio “following a structured sales process” which it believed was conducted with “full integrity” and that it understands its bid was the highest.
To date the committee has also heard from Belfast property developer Gareth Graham, who is involved in a legal battle with Cerberus over its plans to place another two of his companies into administration. He said Cerberus had adopted an approach in Northern Ireland that was "ruthless, unjust and unreasonable".
Nama's former adviser in the North, Frank Cushnahan, has also sent a letter to the committee in which he said he never had "meetings, dealings, correspondence or contact of any kind" with Cerberus or its representatives.
Mr Cushnahan, who was a member of Nama's Northern Ireland advisory committee, said he was not in a position to appear until an investigation also under way by the UK's National Crime Agency is concluded into the sale of Nama's former assets in the North.
