Ronnie Hanna, the former Nama executive who this week became embroiled in a row over one of its biggest deals, declined to comment on the controversy yesterday.
Claims made in the dispute over Nama's €1.6 billion sale of its Northern Ireland loan book to US company Cerberus suggest that Mr Hanna, its former head of asset recovery, helped ensure that it did not appoint receivers or liquidators to some of its creditors.
Mr Hanna said he had "no comment to make" when contacted yesterday. He gave a similar response when asked if he and former Nama advisor, Frank Cushnahan, had met a potential bidder for the loans in 2013.
Mr Cushnahan was recorded telling two other businesspeople he had contacted Mr Hanna on several occasions to prevent some of the agency’s creditors’ “lights going out”.
One of those present, developer John Miskelly, later said the recording, made secretly for BBC Northern Ireland's Spotlight programme, was accurate.
Mr Hanna left Nama several months after the sale of the loans, known as Project Eagle, to Cerberus. He now works as a business consultant. Before joining Nama, he was a senior executive in Ulster Bank.
Claims that businesspeople and politicians were to benefit from the deal sparked the controversy over Project Eagle last year. Cerberus has always denied any wrongdoing.
