Results 23,121-23,140 of 34,778 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) (18 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: When did the board members get word? Did they get phone calls saying that an urgent meeting was needed and asking whether they would be ready at 4.30 p.m?

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)

Seán Fleming: Will the witnesses tell us what happened instead of my asking questions?

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)

Seán Fleming: Did the board members have much documentation? The minutes are extensive and run to a few pages. They state that following further discussion, the board agreed that NAMA should seek written assurance from Cerberus that no fee, commission or other remuneration would be paid to anybody connected with NAMA. Was that in the papers or was it from one of the suggestions that it needed this...

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)

Seán Fleming: The chairman would have said 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)

Seán Fleming: Did the board give approval subject to that letter of confirmation arriving or did the board give the chief executive-----

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)

Seán Fleming: And it gave the chief executive the ability to drop it to £1.2 billion if some last-minute hitch arose. The board meeting was conditional on quite a few things happening once the members hung up the phone. Is that a good way to do business?

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)

Seán Fleming: The figure of £1.241 billion was set. Was the board happy with that? Was any other board meeting held? The reason I ask this is because this was one of the biggest financial transactions in the history of the State and we are trying to get a feel for how decisions are made in these big places. Were there many other meetings where nobody was physically present other than the chief...

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)

Seán Fleming: We just wanted to understand because when we are drafting our report, we want to be fair to NAMA in respect of how the procedure works.

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)

Seán Fleming: It is specifically provided for members to attend by telephone, it is in the original legislation and we accept 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)

Seán Fleming: On what page?

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)

Seán Fleming: It is on the list.

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)

Seán Fleming: I will allow a brief question from Deputy Aylward.

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)

Seán Fleming: I have three brief questions for 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)

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) (18 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: It was and the minimum price was reduced accordingly. That is in the minutes. Deputy McDonald asked about the reference to April 2013 in the minutes. On page 22 of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, the sequence of events is set out. It states that on 24 June a letter from Brown Rudnick was received. It is clear that events had happened prior to that. That is the first date...

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)

Seán Fleming: Did they never ask? The first letter they ever received stated that two of Brown Rudnick''s clients are interested in buying this portfolio, and the board members have never inquired as to who the two were. We know PIMCO was one of them. Would they not have inquired as to who the other bidder was in the interests of the Irish taxpayer? Did they ever get that second person into the bidding...

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)

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) (18 Oct 2016)

Seán Fleming: So was that firm bluffing?

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)

Seán Fleming: Brown Rudnick was part of the process with PIMCO all along. Surely as part of that process there must have been some contact with Brown Rudnick as to who the other bidder was. The board members never inquired. Nobody seems a bit interested in somebody else 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)

Seán Fleming: I find that interesting. I asked that question because that has always puzzled me. I have two other brief questions. NAMA's minimum acceptable amount was £1.23 billion, and it got £1.241, £11 million over the figure, which is 0.89% over. NAMA has said several times that if it did not get £1.23 billion it would not have proceeded. Are the board members telling us at...