Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last week, I raised with the Taoiseach the need for a full investigation into the sale and purchase of NAMA's Northern loan book, Project Eagle. As the Taoiseach avoided my question, I propose to put it to him again. Some of the allegations are shocking. Between May 2010 and November 2013, a member of NAMA's advisory board is alleged to have been charging a fee for advice about NAMA. It is further alleged that the same individual had an unethical working relationship with a senior NAMA officer who gave him access to additional and sensitive commercial information. It is also alleged that he was lobbying on behalf of clients to reduce loan repayment demands and in return he would secure cash payments, so-called fixer fees which were shared with the senior NAMA officer. When NAMA decided to sell its Northern loan book to the US vulture fund Cerberus, this individual was offering to disclose information relating to the value of the loans to a bidder called PIMCO.

It is alleged that PIMCO discovered that payment of a fixer fee of £15 million was requested, to be paid if PIMCO was successful. PIMCO reported this to NAMA and withdrew from the process. According to the response to a Sinn Féin freedom of information request, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, was updated by the NAMA chairman regarding these transactions. It is still unclear why the Minister did not intervene to exercise his general powers of direction over NAMA to suspend the sale’s process until these matters were fully investigated. If found to be accurate, these are serious allegations of financial corruption and insider trading from which the taxpayer has suffered a huge loss. Since 2005, this State has had a market abuse regime and regulations which provide for the prohibition of insider dealing and market manipulation. These are criminal offences. Will the Taoiseach explain why he will not establish a full investigation into these matters? He has refused to do so thus far. I and others have been asking for a very long time that he would at least do us the courtesy of explaining to us why he will not set up such an investigation.

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