Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On page 77 of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, there is a very revealing paragraph on Lazard's position in these proceedings. Paragraph 4.44 states:

In response to a series of questions put to them by NAMA, Lazard stated to NAMA on 31 March 2016 that

- Apart from the nine global investors who participated in the process, there is no evidence that any other investor existed at the time [...] who was as credible and as well qualified such that it appeared that they were in a position to pay a higher prices to NAMA than that secured from Cerberus.

I have read the paragraph a few times as it is quite astonishing. Earlier Deputy Kelly said that the end justified the means but to me the end is inherent in the means. Mr. Long has equated here that "credible and qualified" with meaning the highest price. In a competitive bidding process it is irrelevant what other criteria a bidder had as long as he or she had the highest price.

I touched on self-interest earlier. It was my last question and I did not get to ask Mr. Long anything else. There is a self-interest from Lazard's perspective and I am not saying that it was necessarily Mr. Long's fault. Earlier he alluded to the fact that it is common practice to have success fees for these types of agencies.