The Government will move in the coming days to prepare for a judicial inquiry into Project Eagle, the €1.6 billion sale by Nama of more than 800 loans secured on properties in Northern Ireland.
According to sources at the highest level of Government, Taoiseach Enda Kenny will ask the Cabinet to approve an inquiry, headed by a senior legal figure, into the sale.
Any formal or judicial inquiry is likely to be preceded by a “scoping exercise” that will define the parameters of the investigation. It is understood officials are currently working to outline the options available for an inquiry, which will be complicated by the cross-Border aspect to the transaction.
The Cabinet is to discuss a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General into the sale at its meeting tomorrow.
Shortcomings in process
The report, which has not yet been published, is understood to have concluded Nama potentially lost out on hundreds of millions of euro because of shortcomings in the sale process which was completed in 2014. Nama is understood to be ready to strongly reject any such finding.
If the Cabinet approves, the Taoiseach will call party leaders together after the publication of the C&AG’s report later this week and seek their agreement for a Dáil resolution setting up the inquiry process.
The C&AG’s report on the Project Eagle sale, which is understood to run to 700 pages, identifies some shortcomings and irregularities in the controversial sale, according to several people with knowledge of its findings. It suggests “hundreds of millions of euro” may not have been realised by the agency. However, the report is believed to acknowledge it is impossible to make definitive findings of financial loss.
Nevertheless, it is understood Nama will fiercely reject the findings of the report. For a State agency to reject a finding by the C&AG, which functions as the State’s spending watchdog, would be highly unusual.
The Government had consistently rejected calls over recent months for an inquiry, and voted down – with Fianna Fáil support – a Dáil motion calling for an inquiry in July.
However, political sources accept an inquiry has become inevitable in the light of the expected findings of the C&AG’s report.
Both Independent Minister Shane Ross and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin indicated in recent days they believed further investigations into the transaction were necessary in the light of the reports about the C&AG's findings.
Pressure was already building last week after a BBC Spotlight television programme about former Nama Northern Ireland adviser Frank Cushnahan.
Less definitive
Minister for Finance Michael Noonan was less definitive yesterday on the possibility of an inquiry. He said the C&AG's report would be published tomorrow, after it had been considered by the Cabinet.
He stressed there was nothing in the report “that suggested anything illegal, nothing improper or any irregularities in the way that Nama behaved”, and said Nama would strongly rebut the findings of the report.
He said that the Dáil Public Accounts Committee would hold hearings on the report, as was normal. “I wouldn’t rule out an inquiry after that, but let’s see what comes out of it.”
