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Nama deal: Top civil servant gives evidence to NI inquiry Nama deal: Top civil servant 'unable' to answer inquiry questions
(about 4 hours later)
The Department of Finance's most senior civil servant is giving evidence to the committee investigating the £1bn sale of Nama's Northern Ireland loan portfolio later. A senior civil servant has been unable to answer many of the questions put to him on the sale of the National Asset Management Agency's (Nama) Northern Ireland portfolio after legal advice.
David Sterling is appearing before Stormont's Finance Committee. David Sterling, the permanent secretary at the Department of Finance, appeared before the Stormont committee investigating the matter.
He is expected to be asked what the department knew about the sales process and what contact it had with bidders. He said he "preferred" not to deal with the questions.
The portfolio was sold to the US investment fund Cerberus for more than £1bn last year. That was to ensure there was no risk of prejudicing a criminal probe, he said.
An Irish politician, Mick Wallace, has alleged that £7m was due to be paid to a Northern Ireland politician in the wake of the deal. Mr Sterling invited finance committee members to put their questions in writing.
The National Crime Agency (NCA), which is leading the criminal inquiry into the loan sale controversy, is concerned its investigation could be undermined. Daithí McKay, the committee chairman described it as "one of the worst performances" he had seen from a permanent secretary.
Potential criminal trial Mr Sterling said he was not refusing to answer questions "absolutely", but that for a variety of reasons there were things he thought "not appropriate" to address.
Last week, Stormont's Finance Committee had to postpone its first hearing so it could work out how to proceed without prejudicing a police investigation. He also explained that he was not in the department at the time many of the events took place and he had yet to talk to all of the people who were.
The committee has now drawn up a draft terms of reference. Nominated
Its chairman Daithí McKay said they had to ensure the committee's scrutiny role does not interfere with any investigation or potential criminal trial. He said: "I want to be sure that my answers are not going to compromise or prejudice any other investigations."
On Thursday, the committee is due to consider papers provided to it by the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP). Mr Sterling did answer some questions about the setting up of Nama's Northern Ireland advisory committee in 2010.
It is then scheduled to question Mr Sterling and another senior civil servant. He revealed that the then Finance Minister Sammy Wilson nominated three people who could sit on the committee.
A hearing by the Irish parliament's Public Accounts Committee has already established that a firm interested in buying the portfolio approached the then-Northern Ireland Finance Minister Sammy Wilson in June 2013. They were the former banker Frank Cushnahan, Richard Pengelly who is a senior civil servant and an unnamed former banker.
'Seeking guidance' Nama eventually chose Mr Cushnahan and Brian Rowntree, the former chairman of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
The international law firm Brown Rudnick, acting on behalf of the Pimco investment fund, wrote to Mr Wilson "seeking guidance" before engaging with Nama. Offensive
Mr Wilson forwarded the letter to the Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan who advised that Brown Rudnick should contact Nama directly. Mr Sterling said Mr Rowntree was not nominated by the Department of Finance but "somebody else within the NI Executive".
Pimco later dropped out of the bidding, after it revealed that Nama's former Northern Ireland adviser Frank Cushnahan was due to receive a £5m fee if its bid was successful. He also said that to the best of his knowledge the Department of Finance has no role in drawing up a memorandum of understanding that was sent from the first minister's office to Nama during the loan sale process.
Brown Rudnick then went on to act for the successful bidder, Cerberus. The memorandum has been described by Nama as a "debtors' charter" and "offensive".
Brown Rudnick paid £7.5m to the Belfast's solicitors firm Tughans for advice on the deal. Mr Sterling said his knowledge of the memorandum came from "social media".
Tughans' then-managing partner, Ian Coulter, later moved the bulk of that fee to an Isle of Man bank account. After the hearing, Mr McKay said he would be inviting Mr Wilson and Simon Hamilton, another former finance minister, to give evidence to the inquiry when it meets again in two weeks' time.
Mr Coulter said the money was moved for "a complex, commercially and legally sensitive" reason. The Nama portfolio was sold to the US investment fund Cerberus for more than £1bn last year.
He said that no politician, nor any relative of any politician, was ever to receive any money from the deal. Irish politician Mick Wallace has alleged that £7m was due to be paid to a Northern Ireland politician in the wake of the deal.
The money was later moved back and Mr Coulter left the firm. Mr Wallace told the Irish parliament the money had been moved for that purpose to an Isle of Man bank account controlled by the Belfast solicitor Ian Coulter.
He remains in dispute with his former partners about the events surrounding the Isle of Man transfer. Partners
All parties involved in the deal deny any wrongdoing. Mr Coulter is the former managing partner of Tughans solicitors in Belfast and worked on behalf of the buyers in the Nama deal.
He said he had directed that money be transferred to the Isle of Man account for "a complex, commercially and legally-sensitive" reason.
He said no politician, nor any relative of any politician, was ever to receive any money.
The money moved to the Isle of Man was later retrieved, though Mr Coulter and and his former partners at Tughans remain at odds on the circumstances of that transaction.
BBC Northern Ireland's Spotlight programme has established the Isle of Man account was intended to facilitate payments to non-lawyers or deal fixers.