Results 20,801-20,820 of 26,718 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) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: With the greatest respect to the Chairman, I am not asking witnesses to comment on what they knew then. I am asking them whether they were aware of the PIMCO letter in which PIMCO said it was approached by these individuals in April. I accept that, at the time, based on the information he had, Mr. Mulcahy may have had a view that he had received an approach from PIMCO. He did not know...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: Is that a worry for Mr. Mulcahy, as a board member?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: This is my point. Given the information we now have, the genesis goes back further. It is not that Mr. Mulcahy knew at the time. We know it now.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: Mr. Mulcahy also said the lack of information is overstated. However, PIMCO was prepared to pay these three partners £15 million for the information. We also know from Cerberus that it was also prepared to pay two of those parties £16 million for the information. Clearly, there was a price and a premium on information, given that they were prepared to pay that kind of money. It...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: This is one of the issues touched on in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General. Mr. Mulcahy, as a board member, was made aware that there was a conflict of interest and that there were success fees with both Cerberus-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: The board was made aware of a conflict of interest by-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: They were made aware when PIMCO approached NAMA and said there was a difficulty. We also have the conference calls.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: I asked whether board members were-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: This is a bit frustrating for me. At the very beginning I asked who was on the board and when. If people were not on the board when decisions were made, that is fine. There are people here who were, and they can answer those questions. I asked at the beginning of the meeting.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: I will put the question in a different way. We know NAMA was made aware of conflicts of interest and a success fee between PIMCO and Brown Rudnick, Tughans and Mr. Cushnahan. It was relayed to the board because we had plenty of discussions with other board members and NAMA around conference call minutes and so on, which is in appendix C of the report. The board was made aware that there...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: I will put the questions to Mr. Corrigan. The questions to Mr. Mulcahy were on information, and he said he did not know what information they were providing. Cerberus said the information it provided was "material containing information and research relating to the portfolio's borrowers, guarantees and assets and potential business plans".

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: I am quoting from Cerberus's opening statement.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: No, it is a bit unfair.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: The Chairman has made his ruling, so I will ask Mr. Corrigan a question. When the board, of which he was a member, was made aware of the arrangement between Cerberus, Tughans and Brown Rudnick, did anybody on the board ask what information they were providing to Cerberus? Did they ask what the arrangement or the purpose of the success fee and the relationship was?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: I will read from the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report. With respect to the Chair, these are issues he raised. Conclusion No. 55 reads, "Given the joint agreement between the parties to the success fee arrangement with PIMCO, all of the payment – not just the payment to Mr Cushnahan – should have raised concerns for NAMA." The same applies in relation to...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: The Comptroller and Auditor General goes on to state, in finding No. 56, that the understanding that Brown Rudnick and Tughans had allegedly been in an arrangement with a member of the NIAC at any stage of the process should have raised concerns for NAMA over the potential impacts of such arrangements on the sales process. The following finding is that the board did not appear to have asked...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: I am trying to understand where the board was at that time. I fully understand that the board did not have all the information which we have today. We are getting information all the time and have received some from PIMCO, Fortress and Cerberus, giving us facts the board did not have and I do not expect the board to operate on the basis of hindsight. However, I ask the board to give us a...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: I need to clarify one point. Mr. Corrigan is factually wrong because finding No. 54 states that during NIAC meetings and annual statements of interest, one external NIAC member, Mr. Frank Cushnahan, declared his involvement as an advisor to six NAMA debtors. It goes on to state that the NAMA board should have formally considered whether Mr. Cushnahan's engagement in discussions of the...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: Was it not an issue for Mr. Corrigan, as a board member?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

David Cullinane: Is Mr. Corrigan telling us that the NAMA board was never made aware of this conflict of interest and that it was never brought to the attention of the full board?