Results 22,001-22,020 of 34,729 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: That is okay. There has been so much about a fee arrangement that the layman or laywoman on the street thinks there was an arrangement in place between PIMCO and the three people-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: The agreement was never signed off by PIMCO. The compliance people came in at that point.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: It is almost a bit of a shakedown for the success fee, and they never agreed to it and came to tell the witness then that there was a problem. NAMA said that if there had been even any talk with Frank Cushnahan, it was a problem for it and that it was out, even if nothing had been agreed. Is that essentially it?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: There has been so much talk about the success fee from day one that there is a presumption among the public that it was in place only it got stopped or nobbled at this point.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: Does Mr. Daly accept that letter? Does he accept what it is saying?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: We will move on. As a result of the hearing so far and Cerberus's evidence here, NAMA has had to write to it. It has had to write to PIMCO because of its correspondence here. Has it had to communicate with Fortress?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: Not thus far. Will NAMA pass on the correspondence when it receives a response? There is a chart, on page 77, that I want to ask the witnesses about. For the benefit of people, most of us took it on face value until Mr. Neporent highlighted the matter the day he was here. The chart refers to European sales from 2013 to 2015. Project Eagle was completed at the beginning of 2014. That...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: In other words, if we test that chart on the basis of who NAMA was actually going to, we find NAMA is beginning to suggest it was not as substantial as it is looking.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: We want figures as well. To what does the rate of 30% apply? I have no idea. We need possible quantities.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: We are nearly there. On 13 February, there was a media leak. Confidentiality was a fundamental issue as far as NAMA was concerned. Shortly afterwards, in mid-March, we had the PIMCO issue coming to light. Then, on 2 April and 3 April, we had the issue with Brown Rudnick and Tughans coming to light. I refer to the success fee. At any of those three stages, did NAMA consider halting the...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: Can I just say to Mr. Daly - again, he will find this a bit unusual - that he is very fortuitous in this process. This committee does not know whether we got value for money yet. Consider all the talk about Mr. Cushnahan. He was involved in initiating a process that ultimately resulted in the sale. I am not saying he should get any credit for it and Mr. Daly will not give it but, perhaps...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: The second point is that the leaks on 13 February resulted the following day in Mr. George of Fortress forcing his way into it. He rang the Taoiseach's office-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: He is clear that he did make contact to reach out to somebody in the Taoiseach's office. That remark has been made.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: I know that.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: Will it help if I read the paragraph from Fortress's letter? This is important. We asked specifically how Fortress became involved in the sales process. It responded:After learning of the Project Eagle sale process through press reports (described above), on February 13, 2014, Michael George of Fortress reached out to Andrew McDowell, Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister, and Brendan...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: I read that out.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: The point is that Fortress came into the process as a result of the media leak.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: Yes. They were not in it. The letter says that it happened as a result of the media leak.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (24 Nov 2016)

Seán Fleming: It could have, but the-----