Agency will have power to get ‘pound of flesh’

NAMA will have the power to get its “pound of flesh” from developers who fail to pay their debts, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has said.

Under the Government’s plan, NAMA will buy €90 billion of property loans at a discount from the banks in a bid to cleanse their balance sheets of risky debt. NAMA will then pursue the borrowers in the normal way, seeking full repayment of the loans.

For this reason, the Government’s proposals did not represent a “bailout” for developers, Mr Lenihan told the Oireachtas Committee on Finance yesterday.