Results 5,581-5,600 of 27,011 for speaker:David Cullinane

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: I thank the witnesses for being here so long. It is difficult to put questions in a short time but we do our best. Mr. McEnery said that he was grateful to the Comptroller and Auditor General for his support for NAMA from its birth to now and that he learned a lot from him. That rings a bit hollow when juxtaposed with the opening statement today. Mr. Soffe was given an opportunity to...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Mr. Soffe will remove the word "unsubstantiated". That is fair enough. Mr. Soffe strongly contests that any loss was incurred by NAMA, this £190 million loss the Comptroller and Auditor General talks about. I have studied the Comptroller and Auditor General's report in detail and he says that the loss happened when NAMA took a decision to embark on a loan sale strategy. It was a...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: The point he is making is the actual loss happened at that time. It is a different matter to say six months or a year down the line because of different circumstances and information that NAMA may have got less for that. When it took a decision to go for a loan sale and then applied for a market discount that was a different situation. I am trying to be fair to the witnesses.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: We do not have to go into leaks. We do not have to deal with that because-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: With respect, the Comptroller and Auditor General did not say that. We are all victims of leaks, misinformation and spin. NAMA has done a bit of spinning itself on this. We do not need to go into what was not said but what was said in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: I accept that. We are going to get the information that was------

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: NAMA needs to produce that evidence which it has not done up to now. We have requested that.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: We have not got it, with respect.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: I do not wish to go over this because we have requested information.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: We have asked for specific information so we will get to that. I want to come back to the engagement between PIMCO and NAMA. Mr. McEnery said NAMA would not accept the payments that would have involved Mr. Cushnahan and that it would not accept PIMCO staying in the process once NAMA was made aware of the success fees. Is that correct?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Why would NAMA have arrived at that decision?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Why was it not acceptable?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Why was there a problem with that?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Inappropriate, unethical and wrong, and when the Department of Finance said it was shocking Mr. McEnery would have agreed with that.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Disgusted, shocking and all that, it would have damaged the process.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Would it have damaged the process? If NAMA is saying it was shocking, unethical, wrong and all those words, if it had stayed in the race would it have damaged the process?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: Yes, and it would have compromised the process.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: When Mr. Soffe said earlier that the process had not become corrupted, this is the sleight of hand, when we talk about corruption we talk about corruption of process, we can use the words "corruption" or "compromised". This is where there is a difficulty because NAMA accepts that because of the presence of the success fees involving Mr. Cushnahan it was so serious that the board had to meet....

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: My point is that at that point it was compromised.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (18 Oct 2016)

David Cullinane: There is a difference of opinion on that matter. The process at that point became damaged. Then we had the emergence of two of the three players in the success fee, as we know, seamlessly transferring over to Cerberus. Then we have the so-called letter of comfort that the Comptroller and Auditor General says NAMA should have investigated more. That matter has been gone over as well. That...