Judge rejects Dunne motion to quiz Nama CEO
The disgraced property developer’s legal team was also criticised by the judge for an eleventh-hour objection against Nama efforts to compel Mr Dunne to surrender information about a Swiss bank account, which they claim went undeclared at the time of his filing for bankruptcy in the US last year, with debts of €695m.
An 899-page objection was filed by the debtor’s lawyers at 8pm on Monday, a move which Judge Alan Shiff described as “not a fair thing to do”.
“That isn’t the way we do business,” he told Philip Berman, the lawyer acting on behalf of Mr Dunne at a hearing in Bridgeport yesterday.
Mr Berman countered that there was no deadline for filing an objection but both Thomas Curran, on behalf of Nama, which is owed €185m, and Judge Shiff were unable to hide their exasperation.
The judge did, however, waste no time in quashing the motion aimed at placing Mr McDonagh in the witness stand.
Mr McDonagh claimed he was not directly involved in Mr Dunne’s case and objected to being called as a witness. Nama provided the court with the names of two other staff with “direct, personal and unique knowledge” of Mr Dunne’s dealings with the agency. In spite of Mr Berman’s strenuous disagreement, Judge Shiff accepted Nama’s claim.
The next hearing is scheduled for August 27 ahead of the trial, which is listed for next January.
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