Nama refusal to attend Stormont inquiry ‘increasingly untenable’

Nama's refusal to come before the Stormont inquiry into the sale of its Northern Ireland loan portfolio is becoming "increasingly untenable", according to the inquiry's chairman.

Daithí McKay said while Nama had shared a "great body of written evidence" with the Northern Ireland Assembly finance committee, its consistent refusal to come before the inquiry continued to be deeply frustrating, particularly as senior politicians like DUP leader Peter Robinson, who is scheduled to appear today, support its objectives.

Mr McKay said written evidence can in no way be a substitute for providing Northern Ireland politicians with an opportunity to glean crucial information by questioning senior Nama executives about the so-called Project Eagle sale.

He said recent evidence highlighted how some parties who were initially reluctant to co-operate with the Stormont inquiry – from Cerberus, the American investment group that acquired the Project Eagle portfolio to the Department of Finance in the North – have now begun to reconsider their position.

“Increasingly Nama will find themselves alone in the fact that they will not co-operate in terms of a witness evidence session in the North.

“The committees – whether it’s the public accounts committee or the finance committee in the North – get a lot more from a face-to-face evidence session than you do from written evidence,” Mr McKay stated.

He said the fact Nama played a key role in the North’s economy in recent years and was involved in one of the biggest ever property sales in the region meant they had questions to answer, regardless of arguments about jurisdiction.

Further questions

Overall Mr McKay believes the inquiry is “beginning to bear fruit” although the process has in itself raised further questions to be answered. “We are slowly beginning to paint a picture about what happened with Project Eagle,” he said.

The inquiry chairman believes the decision by Mr Robinson, who has temporarily stepped aside as the North’s First Minister, to appear before the inquiry today is a significant development.

“We are not judging any of these parties – the committee will reach its conclusion once it has finished doing its work – but it is very positive that the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister recognise the importance of this inquiry and it is good that the First Minister will be co-operating fully with the inquiry,” Mr McKay added.