Stormont: Michael Noonan has questions to answer

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has questions to answer after keeping Stormont counterparts in the dark over proposed payments to a former adviser to Nama, a watchdog claimed.

The North’s Assembly finance committee said it was unclear why Mr Noonan did not intervene when issues emerged with one of the bidders for Nama’s massive Northern Ireland property portfolio.

Frank Cushnahan was appointed to advise Nama in 2010. He had been involved in trying to set up the sale of the property portfolio to US investment firm Pimco, and, according to evidence in the Dáil, stood to be paid £5m (about €6.3m). It was to be part of a three-way split of a £15m pot for getting the billion-pound Project Eagle deal over the line.

A spokesman for Mr Noonan said Nama adhered to its mandate to achieve the best return for the taxpayer.

Daithí McKay, chairman of the Stormont finance committee, said: “The committee was rightly critical of the Irish Government’s Finance Minister Michael Noonan and Nama for the way they handled the sale.

“It also found that when issues came to light relating to the sale of the portfolio to Pimco, Michael Noonan did not inform the executive.

“Nama have stated that the northern advisory committee had no access to commercially sensitive information even though members of the committee said they did. So further questions remain.”

Mr Cushnahan resigned as adviser in November 2013, before the eventual sale to Cerberus.

All parties involved in the £1.2bn transaction in 2014 have denied wrongdoing.

Pimco, according to evidence given to a Dáil committee, pulled out of the tender bidding process after discovering that Mr Cushnahan was in line for a £5m payment after the sale.

A spokesman for Mr Noonan said: “Nama and the Department of Finance provided comprehensive evidence to the committee. All relevant information that can be made public about this process has already been made public by the department and by Nama.

“There are criminal investigations under way into actions on the buyer side. There is no allegation of wrongdoing directed against Nama.”