Businessman Frank Cushnahan has been “living a life of character assassination” for more than a decade, a Belfast court was told on Tuesday.
Mr Cushnahan’s barrister said that instead of acting in his own self-interests at a time when the Northern Irish economy was “on its knees”, his client “was prepared to get up off his backside” to try to encourage investment.
Mr Cushnahan, who is 84 and from Alexandra Gate in Holywood, has been charged with and denies a single count of fraud.
The alleged offence relates to the sale of the Northern Ireland property loan book held by the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).
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The agency was set up in the Republic of Ireland in 2009 following the property crash and banking crisis and the charge relates to a period when Mr Cushnahan sat as an external member on the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee (NIAC).
It’s the prosecution’s case that between April 1st and November 7th, 2013, Mr Cushnahan was providing assistance to the American investment fund Pimco regarding the Northern Ireland loan portfolio which he failed to disclose.
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The fraud trial commenced at Belfast Crown Court last September and on Tuesday the barrister representing Mr Cushnahan addressed the jury in his closing speech.
Branding the prosecutor’s case against his client as “utterly hopeless”, Frank O’Donoghue KC said that instead of proving Mr Cushnahan’s guilt the prosecution had proved he was “completely innocent of any allegation of wrongdoing”.
[ Frank Cushnahan opts not to give evidence at Nama trial in BelfastOpens in new window ]
He told the nine men and three women that “after a lifetime of unblemished service to the public and to his clients and to his employers”, Mr Cushnahan found himself in the dock for “an offence that he is supposed to have committed over 12 years ago”.
Mr O’Donoghue said that during those years the pensioner “has been living a life of character assassination, interrogation, prosecution and some might even say persecution”.
Saying Mr Cushnahan was a “man of very considerable character, experience and knowledge”, Mr O’Donoghue reminded the jury that the defence did not call any character witnesses.
This, he said, was because witnesses for the prosecution “told you all about his character and not one person had a bad word to say about him”.
The barrister pointed out that these Crown witnesses included Peter Robinson, Sammy Wilson and high-profile property developers.
Mr O’Donoghue told the jury that when Northern Ireland was in its “direst financial hours” due to the crash, Mr Cushnahan did his “level best to keep the show on the road” with efforts made regarding the sale of the loan book to help “provide the economy with a solution to get back on its feet”.
Saying “no one else was going to do it or could do it”, Mr O’Donoghue spoke of the powerlessness of the Northern Ireland Executive and the potential political sensitivities between the North and south of Ireland at the time.
The defence barrister also said that due to efforts of businessmen such as Mr Cushnahan and others, they “attracted considerable investment for Nama and they got the loan book sold” which benefited not only Northern Ireland but also taxpayers in the Republic.
In his closing speech, Mr O’Donoghue said the prosecution had failed to prove that his client was guilty.
Instead, he told the jury that the evidence of several prosecution witnesses “completely contradicts the prosecution case”.
This, the defence said, included the “limited contact” of just two meetings between Cushnahan and Pimco and a failure to prove he had breached his legal duty to disclose information to NIAC.
Saying it wasn’t surprising that an 84-year old man didn’t give evidence, Mr O’Donoghue said Mr Cushnahan was under no obligation to do so.
The barrister added that Cushnahan “made his case” during a series of interviews conducted “not over weeks, not over months but over years” with the National Crime Agency.
In those, Mr Cushnahan said he didn’t assist Pimco with any proposed purchase, was not due to gain financially from the sale of the loan book and was not dishonest.
Telling the jury the single charge they had to consider was “based on dishonesty”, Mr O’Donoghue told the 12 members: “You have to ask yourself ‘Did he act dishonestly?’ and if you are not sure about that, then you must acquit.”
Mr O’Donoghue is due to resume his closing speech on Wednesday morning.
