NAMA has information ‘banks misled agency’

FINANCIAL Regulator Mathew Elderfield believes NAMA has information that would substantiate the claim that the agency was misled by banks about the value of their property loans.

In a letter to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee, which has been examining the issue, Mr Elderfield said he expected NAMA chief executive Brendan McDonagh would be bringing the information to the attention of the authorities.

“My office expects that Mr McDonagh will contact the Central Bank with information which substantiates a claim that NAMA was provided with false or misleading information by banks,” Mr Elderfield wrote on November 26. “I should expect that, at the same time, NAMA will inform An Garda Síochána and the Director of Corporate Enforcement of any similar concerns.”

Mr Elderfield wrote to the committee again this week to update them on his office’s contacts with NAMA.

“We drew attention to NAMA’s obligation to report to the Bank reasons and information of a suspicion that a participating institution may have contravened a law relating to the regulation of financial services within the remit of the Bank,” Mr Elderfield wrote.

“It is a matter for NAMA to determine, following a consideration of its obligations, both the requirement to report and the relevant authority to which the report is made,” he said in the December 6 letter.

Mr Elderfield’s private correspondence with the committee would appear to be the strongest indication yet that a bank or banks may have misled NAMA.

A NAMA spokesman said the agency had made it clear in the committee that it had information on the issue and would supply it to any investigation on the matter or to the relevant authorities that required it.