C&AG to finish report on Nama’s Project Eagle sale next week

The Comptroller and Auditor General has said he expects to complete a report next week into the National Asset Management Agency's controversial sale of its Northern Ireland portfolio two years ago.

“I have just this week got the final comments from Nama in relation to it. I would expect to be completing the report next week,” Séamus McCarthy, the C&AG, told members of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee on Thursday.

He noted that the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan will have 90 days after receiving the report to present it to the Dáil.

Cerberus acquisition

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Enda Kenny earlier this week rejected calls for a commission of investigation into Nama’s £1.24 billion (€1.48 billion) sale in 2014 of the Northern Ireland portfolio, known as Project Eagle, to US investment firm Cerberus.

The UK's National Crime Agency and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, combined with the Securities and Exchange Commission, are investigating the deal.

This comes amid allegations that about £6 million in fees related to the Project Eagle sale was held in an Isle of Man bank account, allegedly as a so-called fixer’s payment enabling the sale to go through.

New York-based Cerberus has denied any connection with any wrongdoing, while Nama has said the allegations relate to the buy side of the transaction.

PAC chairman Seán Fleming said the committee will write to Mr Noonan to seek publication of the C&AG report as soon as possible after it is filed.