‘I didn’t get a penny out of NAMA deal’
NI leader Robinson dubs fee claims ‘groundless’
DUP leader Peter Robinson has rejected as ‘outrageous and groundless’ an accusation he was to receive a payment linked to the North’s largest ever property sale.
Mr Robinson denounced the claim as he testified at a Stormont committee probing the controversial £1.2billion sale of assets owned by the National Assets Management Agency to US investment firm Cerberus.
At a previous committee hearing, high-profile loyalist blogger and flag protester Jamie Bryson alleged the DUP leader was among five people to receive a share of a ‘success fee’ linked to the deal.
In a lengthy opening statement to committee members in Parliament Buildings, Belfast, yesterday, Mr Robinson said he was ‘offended’ by the allegation but ‘given its source, not surprised’.
He said Mr Bryson had not produced ‘one shred of evidence’ to support his allegation. ‘For the record I didn’t receive, expect to receive, sought or was offered a single penny as a result of the NAMA sale,’ said Mr Robinson.
At the outset of the hearing, the DUP leader said he welcomed the opportunity to address ‘issues, misconceptions and inaccuracies’ he said had arisen during previous committee hearings.
The huge deal involving NAMA’s assets in the North was thrust into the spotlight in the summer when controversial Independent TD Mick Wallace used parliamentary privilege in the Dáil to make allegations of a political pay- off. He claimed £7million in an Isle of Man bank account was ‘reportedly earmarked for a Northern Ireland politician or political party’.
Political watchdogs on both sides of the border are examining the circumstances surrounding the NAMA sale. Britain’s National Crime Agency has launched a criminal investigation.
All parties involved in the deal have denied wrongdoing.
Mr Robinson remains Stormont’s First Minister but has stood aside from his duties amid an ongoing political crisis sparked by a murder linked to the IRA.
Central to the inquiry is a fee paid in to an offshore account controlled by solicitor Ian Coulter, a former managing partner of Belfast-based law firm Tughans.
Tughans, which was involved in the NAMA transaction after being subcontracted by Cerberus’s US l awyers Brown Rudnick, has insisted it was not aware of this transfer. The role of Belfast businessman Frank Cushnahan has also come in for intense scrutiny.
Mr Cushnahan previously served on NAMA’s Northern Ireland advisory committee but it has been claimed he later advised both Cer- berus and another potential US buyer of the portfolio – prompting questions about potential conflicts of interest.
Giving evidence to the committee last month, Mr Bryson alleged that Mr Robinson, Mr Cushnahan, Mr Coulter and two others – developer Andrew Creighton and accountant David Watters – were to share in the success fee.
All five men have publicly denied wrongdoing involving the sale by so-called ‘bad bank’ NAMA. The First Minister stressed that while
‘Not one shred of evidence’
the picture had been ‘clouded’ regarding the NAMA deal, the transaction ultimately was good for the North, as it effectively freed up assets in NAMA’s control.
Mr Robinson also moved to counter evidence given to the committee by Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness who last month told MLAs he had not been fully engaged or fully briefed on the NAMA deal.