North committee may compel Nama officials to give evidence

Nama and the Department of Finance in Northern Ireland were sharply criticised on Thursday by a Stormont scrutiny committee for snubbing its inquiry into allegations of financial corruption over a £1.3 billion property deal.

Daithi McKay, chairman of the Northern Assembly finance committee and other members of the committee censured Nama for refusing to send officials to give evidence to its inquiry.

The committee is investigating the claim by independent TD Mick Wallace that a Northern Ireland politician or party was reportedly set to gain by up to £7 million as a result of the purchase of the 850-property Nama portfolio by US investment company Cerberus.

Committee members also criticised DUP minister Arlene Foster’s Department of Finance and Personnel for failing to send officials to the meeting of the scrutiny body to speak about the deal which was named Project Eagle.

Mr McKay said it was an “insult to the committee” that Nama was refusing to attend and that no officials from the North’s Department of Finance were present. He expected that officials would be present when the committee meets again next week.

“In my 8 years as an MLA I have never seen a case where a department failed to send officials to a committee, so I am viewing that with concern,” he said. “Regardless of how controversial this issue is department officials should not be running away from it,” he added.

Mr McKay also instructed committee officials to write to the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan asking him to “strongly advise Nama to attend”.

Last week the Nama chairman Frank Daly said Nama was accountable to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee and not to Stormont and that any information he provided to the PAC would be available to the Assembly committee through Oireachtas transcripts.

Mr McKay made clear this was unacceptable considering that Nama had a role in the North in relation to the 850-property portfolio which was sold to Cerberus and considering the “huge interest” in the issue North and South.

“It is their responsibility to send officials to this committee to answer questions about how Project Eagle has been handled,” he added. “We will be prepared to compel Nama if they do not volunteer to come forward to the committee.”

SDLP committee member Dominic Bradley said he was “very disappointed” with the stance taken by Nama. “I believe that if necessary we should go to the extent of our powers to ensure that they appear here,” he said. It was also totally unacceptable that the Department of Finance had “snubbed” the committee, he added.

The Northern Ireland Law Society was due to give evidence to the committee today.

It had been inquiring into how former Tughans solicitor Ian Coulter, who was involved in the Nama sale relating to US investment companies Cerberus and Pimco, allegedly diverted £7 million to a private Isle of Man account.

The Law Society appearance however was postponed until an indefinite date because of concerns that such evidence could compromise a criminal investigation into Mr Wallace’s allegations which is being led by the UK National Crime Agency (NCA).

Senior NCA officials met Mr McKay on Wednesday to try to agree a system of inquiry which would not prejudice the criminal investigation.

The committee met in private session for more than an hour yesterday to consider how to press forward.

At a short public session it agreed that it would convene again next week to decide on terms of reference on how to proceed, mindful that it would not do anything that would impinge on the NCA investigation.

Mr Bradley said the committee must “at all times avoid any type of action which might in the future impinge or prejudice any trial that might take place but at the same time I don’t think we should curtail our range of witnesses”.

Mr McKay said the committee would continue to pursue its inquiries but that there would be “areas which members will be advised to step quite carefully around given the concerns that have been outlined by the NCA, but we are not in any way being shut down”.