Former finance minister Sammy Wilson said he “never got a penny” from a deal to sell Nama’s Northern Ireland loan book.
Instead, the east Antrim MP said he was “hoping to get political kudos” and “to show people that devolution was working for their benefit.”
Mr Wilson was giving evidence at Belfast Crown Court. Frank Cushnahan (83) has been charged with, and denies, fraud by failing to disclose information between April 1 and November 7, 2013.
The charge relates to the sale of a portfolio of loans by Nama tied to Northern Ireland property.
READ MORE
Mr Wilson was questioned by defence barrister Frank O’Donoghue KC who is representing Mr Cushnahan.
Mr O’Donoghue raised the issue of “all sorts of rumours going around about people getting paid” in relation to the deal and when asked if he got any money, Mr Wilson said “I never got a penny out of it.”
He said: “What I was hoping was to get political kudos out of it.”
He also spoke of “massive political gain” for the Northern Ireland Executive as securing a deal would have shown people “devolution was working for their benefit.”
Mr Wilson earlier outlined to Jonathan Kinnear KC, for the prosecution, the problems faced at that time by builders, property developers and others affected who were “fearful as to what would happen with them.”
He also spoke of concerns held by those with assets in Northern Ireland regarding decisions made by the Dublin-based agency.
Mr Wilson said he asked the Republic’s then minister for finance, Brian Lenihan, if there could be a representative from the Northern Ireland Executive on the Nama board.
He said Mr Lenihan’s response was that this would not be possible as “the legislation was through” which dictated who could sit on the board.
Asked by Mr Kinnear if he came up with any other suggestions, Mr Wilson said they had a discussion and he asked “is there a way we can get a voice for Northern Ireland on the board and we came to the conclusion that a Northern Ireland Advisory Committee could be set up.”
Mr Wilson said Mr Lenihan asked him to come up with “some names” and that he proposed three people – Neil Adair who was involved in Allied Irish Bank, senior civil servant Richard Pengelly and Frank Cushnahan.
After revealing both Mr Adair and Mr Pengelly were “ruled out”, Mr Wilson was asked how he knew Frank Cushnahan.
He said this dated back to when he sat on Belfast City Council and Mr Cushnahan was chairman of the Belfast Harbour Commissioners.
Mr Wilson said that over the years Cushnahan acted as an adviser to government ministers, he had a “deep knowledge” of the banking sector and knew “many of the players being affected by Nama.”
The jury has already heard that Cushnahan was appointed as an external member of NIAC in May 2010 and retired from that position in November 2013.
When asked by Mr Kinnear what his understanding of Cushnahan’s role on that Committee was, Mr Wilson said it was to “bring some knowledge of the Northern Ireland context to the board” but that he didn’t have any decision-making responsibilities.
He added there was “an acceptance” that, as finance minister, information regarding Northern Ireland could be “fed back” to him.
Regarding his nomination of Mr Cushnahan to NIAC, Mr Wilson said “from the very start we were totally transparent” about his background, knowledge and connections and that Mr Lenihan was “fully aware” of these.
Mr Kinnear also questioned Mr Wilson about comments made by Mr Cushnahan in a conversation with a property developer.
In that, Mr Cushnahan said Mr Wilson was going to ‘get a few pounds’ from a potential deal with investment fund Pimco and that after Mr Wilson said he loved gardening and wanted to buy a nursery, Mr Cushnahan told the property developer ‘if this comes off’ he would ‘make sure’ he got the nursery.
Asked by the prosecution if he ever had such a conversation about a nursery with Mr Cushnanan, Mr Wilson said there was “never such a conversation.”
