Lawyer denies property deal cash earmarked for polititian

A lawyer who transferred money for a massive property deal into his own account has denied it was intended for any politician.

Ian Coulter’s Belfast-based law firm was involved in the €1.56 billion sale of Northern Ireland assets owned by the Dublin government’s “bad bank” Nama to US investment firm Cerberus last year.

Allegations were levelled in the Dáil recently by Independent TD Mick Wallace.

Using parliamentary privilege, Mr Wallace alleged that €9.95 million in an Isle of Man account linked to the deal was “reportedly earmarked for a Northern Ireland politician or political party”.

Mr Coulter said: “No politician, nor any relative of any politician in Northern Ireland, was ever to receive any monies in any way as part of this deal. This was never discussed, assumed nor expected.”

Nama is the bank set up by the government to clear property loans from bailed out lenders.

It and all private firms involved in the Northern Ireland assets sale have denied wrongdoing.

Mr Coulter is under investigation by the Law Society, which regulates lawyers in Northern Ireland.

He was the managing partner in Tughans law firm but resigned in January this year. He said he received no personal financial benefit from his work on the transaction or any of the €10.66 million fees.

Money which has been called into question was part of the total legal and consultancy fees agreed as payable by Cerberus to its US lawyers, Brown Rudnick. Cerberus did not engage or pay Tughans directly.

Mr Coulter said Cerberus has acted completely professionally and properly at all times in relation to this matter.

“The fees payable were paid into a Tughans company account supervised by the firm’s finance team.

“In September 2014, a portion of the fees was retained by Tughans and I instructed Tughans’ finance director to transfer the remaining portion into an external account which was controlled only by me. Not a penny of this money was touched.

“The reason for the transfer is a complex, commercially- and legally-sensitive issue and has been explained to my former partners at Tughans.

“It will be explained to the appropriate authorities and those entitled to that information as part of my continuing co-operation with any investigation.”

He said the money which was transferred to an external account was not “discovered” or “retrieved” by the Law Society or Tughans during an audit.

“In fact, I transferred the money back to Tughans in early December 2014 and I brought this to their attention.

“From late November until early January, discussions took place to try to resolve the matter. In January 2015 these discussions broke down and I decided to resign from Tughans. Terms and conditions for my resignation were agreed between me and Tughans.

“I have not received any personal financial benefit for my work on this transaction. Neither I nor any third party has received any part of the €10.66 million fees.”

He said the concept of a Northern Ireland Nama deal was developed and significant work leading up to this deal was done by other business people in Northern Ireland, before any involvement of Cerberus (or any bidder).

“None of these other parties were from Tughans and none were politicans or relatives of politicians.

“Through Tughans I was formally engaged to provide the required local counsel to Brown Rudnick. This was a commercial arrangement with Brown Rudnick, for which fees were discussed and agreed.”

He said the deal itself was a straightforward one between a buyer (Cerberus) and a seller. Nama received what it has publicly confirmed is the full and disclosed value.

“No monies from Nama went towards any fees paid to Tughans.”

The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) is leading an investigation into the sale.

Fianna Fail leader Michael Martin told Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the Dáil: “It’s quite a dramatic contrast, in terms of the respective responses from the two jurisdictions.

“It’s about ethics. Was the deal done ethically? Nama seems to be saying everything is okay on the seller side, we are not really responsible or that bothered about what happens on the purchaser side, that satisfies us, we got the best value for money – or so we think.”

Mr Martin said Dublin’s Finance Minister Michael Noonan knew as far back as March last year that former Nama adviser Frank Cushnahan was to be paid €7.10 million by another US investment fund, Pimco, if it won the bidding war for the portfolio. Pimco said it later withdrew from the bidding.

“It’s shocking and no one batted an eyelid,” Mr Martin said.

He added that allowing the sale to go ahead was at the least an extraordinary error of judgement.

He also said a memorandum of understanding drawn up by the Stormont executive for the proposed sale to Pimco was “extraordinary in itself” as it released all debtors of corporate guarantees.

The Fianna Fail leader again joined other Opposition leaders in calling for a commission of inquiry to be set up into Nama.

But Mr Kenny said the NCA and Northern Ireland’s Law Society were already investigating the issues.

There have been no allegations of wrongdoing against Nama and the portfolio was eventually sold in an open process to the highest bidder, he told the Dail.

“The only potentially illegal activity we are aware of here to date is the potential diversion of funds due to a Northern Ireland law firm, and allegations raised are being taken very seriously by authorities,” he said.

Sinn Fein deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald also called for an inquiry.

Pimco’s account of the affair “flatly contradicts” the Irish government and Nama version of events, as the US financiers insisted they voluntarily withdrew from the sale rather than being asked to withdraw, she said.

Despite knowing things had gone “badly awry”, Mr Noonan and Nama were happy to let it “trundle on” without collapsing the sales process or alerting the Northern executive, Ms McDonald told the Dail.

“I believe the credibility of Nama is now on the line, particularly when you consider the €13 billion of assets at market or to come to market in the near future,” she said.

“How can the public have confidence?”