The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) is to be contacted by gardaí over an allegation that banks provided the agency with misleading information about the quality of their loan books.
Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy has written to Fianna Fail TD for Cork South Central Michael McGrath, who made a complaint about the matter, to say that a senior officer will speak to the agency to see what evidence of a criminal offence is available.
Mr McGrath's complaint followed a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee last month which was addressed by Nama chief executive Brendan McDonagh and its chairman Frank Daly.
During the November 18th meeting Mr McGrath said there was a need to investigate whether "false, misleading information" was provided to the agency in a systematic way.
He said this could have led to a "huge overpayment by the taxpayer" to the banks. He knew this was a serious charge, but "the evidence is overwhelming".
Mr McDonagh said he did not disagree with the points being made by Mr McGrath.
Fine Gael TD Michael D'Arcy asked Mr Daly if he believed the banks had attempted fraud, Mr Daly replied: "The figures [from the banks] were certainly misleading. You can speculate as to what was behind it."
Nama is buying €74 billion in loans linked to 840 borrowers from five participating lenders. The agency is paying about €40 billion for the loans, which is creating massive losses at the institutions, forcing the Government to inject capital and to effectively nationalise four of the five lenders.
Mr McGrath also filed complaints about the matter with Financial Regulator Matthew Elderfield and Director of Corporate Enforcement Paul Appleby.
Mr Elderfield responded to say he expected to hear from Nama about the matter, while Mr Appleby said it was not evident if the matter fell under his remit.
