Two men deny several charges which relate to the sale of the Northern Ireland property loan book held by the National Assets Management Agency, set up in the Republic amid the banking crisis of 2009
There is “not a shred of evidence” that then First Minister Peter Robinson received any money from the Nama deal, a court heard today.
Prosecuting barrister Jonathan Kinnear KC spent the third day on his feet at Belfast Crown Court opening the prosecution’s case against two businessmen currently on trial on charges of fraud.
Ian George Coulter, 54, a former managing partner of Tughans solicitors from Templepatrick Road in Ballyclare, has been charged with five offences over a timeframe of April 3 to December 1, 2014.
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His 83-year old co-accused Frank Hugh Cushnahan, a high profile businessman who was awarded the CBE and who is from Alexandra Gate in Holywood, faces two charges which span a period from April 1 to November 7, 2013.
Both men have denied all the charges which relate to the sale of the Northern Ireland property loan book held by the National Assets Management Agency, which was set up in the Republic of Ireland following the property crash and banking crisis in 2009.
Cushnahan was appointed as an external member of the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee (NIAC) which was set up by NAMA to advise in respect of the property debts in Northern Ireland.
In this role, it’s the Crown’s case that he was under a legal duty to disclose any conflict of interests that he had – which Mr Kinnear said he failed to do.
During today’s hearing, the jury was presented with information regarding a meeting between Cushnahan and a property developer which the latter secretly recorded. The meeting took place on November 4, 2013 and Mr Kinnear told the jurors that in due course, they will hear the audio of the covert recording of the meeting.
The prosecutor said that in November 2013 Cushnahan was “heavily involved” with American investment firm Pimco, who were potential purchasers of the Northern Ireland loanbook.
Mr Kinnear said that topics discussed between Cushnahan and the property developer illustrated this involvement.
This, the jury heard, included Cushnahan talking about how he brought Pimco to meet the then finance minister Sammy Wilson and the substantial sum of around £2million that he believed he was to receive as a success fee.
Telling the jury Cushnahan whispered part of this conversation, which Mr Kinnear said was “so secretive he was not going to speak at full volume”, the prosecutor revealed at one point Cushnahan mentioned ‘Robson’ and ‘a bit of money’ – who the Crown said is Peter Robinson.
Mr Kinnear then stated “there is not a shred of evidence Mr Robinson or anyone else received money from this deal.”
The prosecutor also spoke of a number of opportunities where Cushnahan could have declared his involvement with Pimco. Instead, the Crown say, he failed to do this as he didn’t want to scupper the “huge fee” he was in line to receive if the deal with Pimco went through.
Mr Kinnear said this would have been akin to “losing a lottery ticket.”
The jury of nine men and three womEn were told that in November 2013 Cushnahan resigned from his position as an external member on the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee, citing family priorities and his age as his reasons.
Mr Kinnear told the jury: “You may think this was an ideal opportunity, when resigning, to tell the truth. He didn’t.”
Ultimately, the deal with Pimco fell through in March 2014 when Nama found out about Cushnahan’s involvement.
Describing this as “the bombshell”, Mr Kinnear said that four days after this discovery “the £1.1billion deal was dead in the water.”
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