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Mick Wallace told he would "get sorted" over Nama allegations

Mick Wallace has said he was told he would "get sorted” by an official from Cerberus, an in...
Newstalk
Newstalk

21.11 29 Sep 2015


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Mick Wallace told he would &am...

Mick Wallace told he would "get sorted" over Nama allegations

Newstalk
Newstalk

21.11 29 Sep 2015


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Mick Wallace has said he was told he would "get sorted” by an official from Cerberus, an investment firm involved in purchasing a loan portfolio from the National Management Agency (Nama).

“I was summoned to a meeting by a public figure and a message was passed on to me from a leading member of Cerberus Ireland that I was going to get sorted," he said in the Dáil on Tuesday.

“Now why would they have to say that if I’m telling the truth?,” he asked Enda Kenny during Leaders’ Questions.

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“Taoiseach are you going to actually seriously look at the questions that are swirling around Nama?”

Mr Wallace claimed separately that one Nama developer was approached about the possibility of buying his loans back from an investment fund – and the approach was made months before they were sold by Nama.

WATCH: Mick Wallace on Nama in the Dáíl

One developer, whose loans were in the Northern Ireland portfolio Project Eagle, was approached by so-called "fixers" who were looking to sell his loans back to him at a discount before the sale process began, Mr Wallace alleged.

Project Eagle has been an increasingly controversial issue, with Mr Wallace repeatedly raising questions about the portfolio.

“The reserve price was reduced by £60m,” he said. 

“Could you find out if this might be connected to reports of a developer whose loans were in Project Eagle and he came to Nama to complain about being approached by fixers who were looking for a backhand in order for him to buy his loans back at 50p in the pound, in the autumn of 2013, months before Cerberus even bought it?” Mr Wallace asked the Taoiseach.

Enda Kenny responded by telling Mr Wallace to take his allegations to the relevant bodies.

“I suggest that the questions you’ve just asked here, and any other questions you have, be given to a member of the Public Accounts Committee to ask Nama directly on Thursday,” he said.

“You have made, you have made strong statements, you’ve made comments or allegations about fixers, about bags of money, I suggest to you, Deputy Wallace, that if you can back up that information, you should bring it to the notice of the Comptroller and Auditor General immediately and to the police authorities. 

“These are very serious allegations,” Mr Kenny continued.

“ And the questions that you raise, can be legitimately asked of Nama, at the Public Accounts Committee on this Thursday, they are responsible to this House here. And in respect of the matter of the Northern Ireland portfolio, there are two investigations going on there, outside this jurisdiction.”

Mr Wallace told the Taoiseach he got the impression he is “trying to hide behind the fig leaf of Oireachtas committees, I’ve already been to the guards, I’ve been to the National Crime Agency, the British who are looking into it. I’ve already been to both of them. 

“What I can’t understand is why you don’t want to know anything about it. Cerberus are under investigation, criminal investigation, in two countries and they still haven’t been disqualified into looking at Project Arrow and threatening to buy it,” he said.


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