There is “not a shred of evidence” that the then Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson received any money from the Nama deal, a Belfast court heard on Wednesday.
Prosecuting barrister Jonathan Kinnear KC spent the third day on his feet at Belfast Crown Court opening the prosecution’s case against two businessmen currently on trial on charges of fraud.
Ian George Coulter (54), a former managing partner of Tughans solicitors from Templepatrick Road in Ballyclare, has been charged with five offences from April 3 to December 1, 2014.
His 83-year old co-accused Frank Hugh Cushnahan, a high profile businessman from Alexandra Gate in Holywood, faces two charges spanning from April 1st to November 7th, 2013.
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Both men have denied all the charges which relate to the sale of the Northern Ireland property loan book held by the Republic’s National Asset Management Agency (Nama).
Cushnahan was appointed as an external member of the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee (NIAC) set up by Nama to advise in respect of the property debts in Northern Ireland.
In this role, it’s the prosecution’s case that he was under a legal duty to disclose any conflict of interests that he had – which Mr Kinnear said he failed to do.
During Thursday’s hearing, the jury was presented with information regarding a meeting between Cushnahan and a property developer which the latter secretly recorded.
The meeting took place on November 4, 2013 and Mr Kinnear told the jurors that in due course, they will hear the audio of the covert recording of the meeting.
The prosecutor said that in November 2013 Cushnahan was “heavily involved” with American investment firm Pimco, who were potential purchasers of the Northern Ireland loanbook.
Mr Kinnear said that topics discussed between Cushnahan and the property developer illustrated this involvement.
This, the jury heard, included Cushnahan talking about how he brought Pimco to meet the then Northern Ireland finance minister Sammy Wilson and the substantial sum of around £2 million that he believed he was to receive as a success fee.
Telling the jury Cushnahan whispered part of this conversation, which Mr Kinnear said was “so secretive he was not going to speak at full volume”, the prosecutor revealed at one point Cushnahan mentioned “Robson” and “a bit of money” – who the Crown said is Peter Robinson.
Mr Kinnear then stated “there is not a shred of evidence Mr Robinson or anyone else received money from this deal.”
The prosecutor also spoke of a number of opportunities where Cushnahan could have declared his involvement with Pimco.
Instead, the prosecution say, he failed to do this as he didn’t want to scupper the “huge fee” he was in line to receive if the deal with Pimco went through.
Mr Kinnear said this would have been akin to “losing a lottery ticket.”
The jury of nine men and three woman were told that in November 2013 Cushnahan resigned from his position as an external member on the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee, citing family priorities and his age as his reasons.
Mr Kinnear told the jury: “You may think this was an ideal opportunity, when resigning, to tell the truth. He didn’t.”
Ultimately, the deal with Pimco fell through in March 2014 when Nama found out about Cushnahan’s involvement.
Describing this as “the bombshell”, Mr Kinnear said that four days after this discovery “the £1.1 billion deal was dead in the water.”
