NAMA to pay salaries, expenses to developers
The decision to pay the wages of developers will shock taxpayers who have already been landed with a €16 billion bill to take over the loans of the country’s top 10 building tycoons.
A spokesman for the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) yesterday confirmed it was considering the business plans of the broke developers, which include living expenses and salaries.
“We require full transparency with all the costs of the businesses going forward, including living expenses of the relevant personnel. While we may support modest living expenses of the relevant individuals, there is no question whatsoever of support extravagant lifestyles of any developer.”
The business plans of the 10 developers will be decided by early September and would include salary claims, the official confirmed adding: “Any requirements like that will have to be very modest, will have to reflect the very weakened state that the businesses are in and there is no question of NAMA approving business plans which support high-flying salaries.”
Reports that some builders could receive wages of hundreds of thousands of euro from NAMA were not commented on, as the agency said it could not speak about individual developers.
The 10 developers include well-known developers such Liam Carroll, Sean Mulryan, Derek Quinlan, Gerry Gannon, Bernard McNamara and Johnny Ronan.
Some business plans submitted to NAMA have already been rejected or returned, it was confirmed yesterday.
“They’ve thrown the plans back at them and told them they’re not adequate,” said one finance source.
The transfer of the next tranche of bad loans to NAMA is set to be completed by the middle of July. It will include loans of the country’s next 20 top developers.
Separately, the initial top 10 developers have begun applying for a special completion fund to finish half-built or incomplete property projects. NAMA, as part of its legislation, has made available up to €5 billion for the special fund.
One report suggested up to €1.5bn was being sought by developers so far to help finish projects.
NAMA says it will invest in completions if a greater return is predicted for taxpayer once the project is completed.
