Results 9,781-9,800 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: It may have been fatally flawed, 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)

Mary Lou McDonald: The witnesses argue that PIMCO tried to manoeuvre to get NAMA on side with something that should not have been going on. It tried to sidestep compliance and regulation. Is that not their contention? It is a very serious thing to suggest.

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 in the board's minutes that PIMCO tried to secure the board's acquiescence to this dodgy manoeuvre.

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: We are trying to unravel what happened and can only go on what is in front of us. The minutes tell us that the board discussed the issue and it was stated - this is faithfully recorded - that PIMCO was trying to pull a quick one.

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 conversations we have just gone through in Appendix E comprehensively refute that assertion because, according to this material, that is not the conversation that was had with PIMCO.

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 other words, Ronnie Hanna and the other person, NAMA's senior divisional manager - legal - I do not know if the witnesses wish to tell us who it is or was - were essentially on a solo run. That is the witnesses' position on the issue.

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 have no doubt that we will return to it at future hearings.

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 assume I will be able to contribute again.

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 witnesses have been very aggressive and dogmatic in making many of their assertions. The difficulty arises when one reads the board minutes. In that regard, I am zeroing in on the issue of PIMCO because I believe it is at the core of how the board did its business and the witnesses' stewardship of the board. The assertion that the board was insistent as regards PIMCO is not reflected...

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: We know they exited. Did the head of the legal division report to any regulatory authority at that time or subsequently that PIMCO had attempted to sidestep its regulatory and legal duties in the way Mr. Soffe contends happened, by seeking his acquiescence and so on? Was that reported anywhere?

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 assume NAMA is in contact with various authorities now in respect of other investigations. Have Mr. Soffe and Mr. McEnery made this information known in respect of PIMCO? Did they make a complaint or share that information with any of the investigating authorities?

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 am asking about the witnesses' assertions around PIMCO.

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 am sorry. The witnesses have, in fact.

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: This is my last point, which should not be missed. The witnesses have not just said that. They said that PIMCO connived to stay within the process and that it sought their acquiescence in that regard. That is their position on it. I am a little astonished because the seriousness of asserting that seems to have gone over their heads. I would imagine the head of the legal division of PIMCO...

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 the same thing.

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. McEnery has made that point and he is not moving from that position.

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 am sorry, it is more serious than that. They approached board members because they knew that a success fee could not go to Mr. Cushnahan or anybody else associated with 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: They brought this to Mr. McEnery's attention and it is now his contention that they said, "But listen, whatever about that, how do we hang on in?". That is a most serious charge against any organisation and its compliance and legal division. I am surprised at 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: To try and break the law.

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 conversations were with its legal and compliance unit, not with some office junior who thought it might be a bright idea to hang in. The witnesses are asserting, and they have asserted multiple times, that the person charged with legal compliance sought to sidestep or undermine legal compliance in that regard. That is an astonishing claim for them to make and I am sure we will have...