Results 22,041-22,060 of 34,777 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: We have torn the minutes apart, but I am asking for the basic reason.

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 want to tease this out because I am a little confused even after everything I have heard. Was that success fee arrangement to be split between the three? People refer to a "proposed" success fee. Based on the "proposed" success fee, he was to receive something. Was that agreement in place? Is that Mr. McDonagh's understanding?

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 am very clear.

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: Correct.

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Seán Fleming: That is why I asked why PIMCO had withdrawn. What the witnesses seem to be confirming is that PIMCO is saying it was approached twice about a fee and never consented to it. If it did not agree to do anything wrong, why did it withdraw? The witnesses can understand that question.

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 said it withdrew. We will have to go back on that. I want to be clear because there was an understanding that there was a success fee arrangement in place. When this was being teased out, was it known as an issue? Mr. Daly is saying he accepts there was never one in place. There was one requested.

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: Fine.

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 just want to be clear in our report that there was never a fee arrangement in place.

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-----