Results 9,621-9,640 of 21,149 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Mr. Stewart had been writing a record in his contemporaneous notes and I do not see any such doubt cast on the motives of PIMCO.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Of course, but Mr. Stewart's boss told us that it was about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that it had contacted NAMA.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: In previous testimony Ms O'Reilly cited it.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: On the far end of the line PIMCO had Mr. Tom Rice, European legal counsel, and Mr. Hugh Mildred, legal counsel. There was a third party to the conversation on 10 March, Dechert, Neil Gerrard, partner. Why was Dechert party to the conversation?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: It was Mr. Stewart and Mr. Ronnie Hanna on 10 March.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: At no stage in the records - this is reflected in Appendix E of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report - does NAMA state to PIMCO the position is untenable and that one must exit from the proces.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: I wanted to receive clarification because there has been some controversy about whether PIMCO walked or was exited. Mr. Stewart will be aware that the position of his board, chairman and chief executive officer - it seems it was not based on anything - was that PIMCO had been forcibly exited, but that is not borne out by the records.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: In respect of the telephone call on 11 March, with Mr. Stewart and Mr. Ronnie Hanna from the NAMA side, from the notes I note that Mr. Hanna asked the question of "when PIMCO had become aware of the issue," the issue being the success fees or the fixer's fees. Mr. Tom Rice, European legal counsel for PIMCO, responded by saying, "the [Project Eagle] process had been with NAMA for several...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: What notes elsewhere?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Will Mr. Stewart say that again? There were references to-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is certainly news to me. The board minutes from the meeting of 13 March state: "The Board noted that PIMCO had advised that the negotiations had commenced in April 2013". In our previous session, which was attended by some members of the NAMA board, Mr. Oliver Ellingham agreed with me when I put the following to him: "PIMCO, on leaving the process of its own volition, as I interpret...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Hold on a moment. Mr. Stewart is party to this conversation and Mr. Hanna is there because he is head of asset recovery. Mr. Stewart was there in his capacity. What is Mr. Stewart's position again?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Mr. Stewart was there for his legal input. Is he saying that a reference was made to April or May and to this day he has no understanding of what it refers to or why April or May were referenced?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Hold on. When Mr. Stewart was doing up his notes, and in fairness to him he kept notes-----

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Well done. When Mr. Stewart was doing up his notes, did he inquire of Mr. Hanna what might have been meant by that reference to April -May 2013?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Mr. Stewart simply cannot recall. We have a record of a phone call which was not any phone call between a set of people. Bear in mind the board is talking to the legal counsel from the PIMCO end. This is reflected in Mr. Stewart's contemporaneous notes and the board minutes and he is not disputing that those dates were mentioned. We have no explanation as to what was meant and why those...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Did it? According to Mr. Rice, European legal counsel for PIMCO, the process had been with NAMA for several months and he referenced April or May 2013. The board minutes state: "PIMCO had advised that the negotiations had commenced in April 2013". This pre-dates correspondence from the Northern Minister and all of that sequence of events.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Yes, perhaps PIMCO might assist. When members of the NAMA board were before the committee they were insistent that PIMCO was seeking to stay inside this transaction. They were emphatic on repeated occasions at our meeting that PIMCO wished at all costs to sidestep whatever regulatory irregularities it may have come across and remain within the process. Is that Mr. Stewart's recollection?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: I appreciate that. Let us go back to Mr. Stewart's notes on the 11 March telephone call. Mr. Rice for PIMCO states that PIMCO did not want to continue in a process with any degree of impropriety for PIMCO or NAMA and that PIMCO was willing to withdraw completely. That is a straightforward statement of intent in that PIMCO understood the seriousness of the issue and its legal obligations...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (25 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: Please do.