Results 9,761-9,780 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) (18 Oct 2016)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is not what is reflected in the notes from the conference calls and, quite frankly, that really does not tally with common sense given that PIMCO made the approach to NAMA. I suppose PIMCO was the whistleblower in this scenario. The contemporaneous notes of the phone calls and exchanges relating to the legal and compliance unit in PIMCO and NAMA reflect its concern, its insistence 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)

Mary Lou McDonald: Is it the board's position that the legal and compliance unit of PIMCO sought to hang in in the process?

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: The notes from the conference calls completely refute that assertion. In the conference call dated 12 March 2014, PIMCO further stated that it could not see how any change would allow the organisation to continue with the transaction. This suggests the move to try to change things or side step things did not emanate from PIMCO but from NAMA.

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: In the conference call on 11 March 2014, the head of asset recovery, Mr. Ronnie Hanna inquired about other options. PIMCO asked what he meant by it, and Mr. Hanna asked if the deal could be shaped differently for the arrangement fee to come out. This is fairly explicit that NAMA was seeking to reorder or reshape things to keep PIMCO in it. It does not support the board members’...

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: Is it the board members' contention that Mr. Hanna acted alone in that regard?

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: The notes I have quoted from are summaries of the communications, mainly conference calls, between PIMCO and NAMA in March 2014 regarding PIMCO's withdrawal from the Project Eagle loan sales process and are based on meetings with NAMA officials and the examination team reviewing a minute of a conference call prepared by NAMA's senior divisional manager, legal and reviewed by NAMA's head of...

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: I can only surmise that Mr. Ronnie Hanna, head of asset recovery, and NAMA's senior divisional manager, legal, were on a solo run in this regard. Is that the suggestion?

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: Mr. Hanna has been invited to the committee. We need to hear from NAMA's senior divisional manager, legal, about the matter. Could we make a note on it?

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: Briefly.

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: I draw the delegates’ attention to the board minutes of 3 April. This was the meeting at which the board finally signed off on the deal with Cerberus. At this point, the board asked for confirmation-----

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is on page 121. Mindful of the scenario that had gone before around fixers' fees, the board approached Cerberus to get certain comfort in respect of fixers' fees and was advised that it had agreed a success fee with Brown Rudnick. The board would have known Brown Rudnick’s role in the previous PIMCO scenario. Following further clarification, the board discovered Brown Rudnick had...

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: Did the board specifically ask about Mr. Frank Cushnahan? Is there a piece of paper, was there a phone call, is it recorded anywhere that questions were asked about Mr. Cushnahan specifically?

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: It strikes me as remarkably coy.

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: Does Mr. Soffe still accept that that assurance holds water?

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: Mr. Soffe knows that there are several investigations under way-----

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----not least in this jurisdiction, where one is soon to be established, as well as in the Northern jurisdiction and America. That was not a good day's work by NAMA, was it?

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: If Mr. McEnery does not mind me saying so, that makes it all the more extraordinary that the direct question was not put at any stage in relation to Mr. Cushnahan.

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: Does Mr. Soffe think I am making a big deal out of nothing? Is that the case? In that regard, I direct him to the board's minutes of 11 March which are recorded on page 116 and 117 of the report. It is at this stage that the head of asset recovery, Ronnie Hanna, tells the board about the conversation with PIMCO. It is fascinating to note the following statement on page 117:Following...

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: How does one tell the dancer from the dance or what is real and perceived?

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)

Mary Lou McDonald: He probably did not need it as he was advising seven debtors who represented 50% of the portfolio. I suggest he did not necessarily have to come to the board's meeting to have extensive debtor information. The meeting then heard that the payment to Mr. Cushnahan was a significant issue, of which Mr. Soffe made great play. However, at no stage in any of the documentation is it reflected...