An investigation by auditors Deloitte into a property transaction involving a Nama debtor and an ex-employee of the agency has found its systems to deal with conflicts of interest were not adhered to.

It emerged earlier this year that Enda Farrell, who had been a portfolio manager with Nama, and his wife Alice Kramer had bought a four-bedroom house and two acres of land in Lucan, Co Dublin from Thomas Dowd for €410,000. Mr Dowd, a director of property investment firm Avestus, is a Nama client.

Learning of the deal in August, Nama suspected it might have breached its procedures and hired Deloitte to audit the purchase.

Value

The Deloitte review found no evidence that the sale had taken place at under value. It also noted that, at the time of the transaction, there was no policy requirement to openly market the property and there was no breach of policy in that regard.

But it found that, while appropriate systems were in place to deal with conflicts of interest, these had not been adhered to by Mr Farrell. Mr Farrell disputes this.

Deloitte made a number of recommendations to the agency, including the revision of transaction policy “to prohibit purchases of any asset from a Nama debtor other than a principal private residence which has been openly marketed and which will require pre-approval”.

The firm also recommended the introduction of a process to identify all prospective purchasers to confirm that the sale of an asset would not create a conflict of interest for Nama. The agency has said it will implement the recommendations.

Misappropriation

On Monday, Nama said it had concluded its investigations into the alleged misappropriation of highly confidential data from the agency by Mr Farrell, and had decided not to pursue him, at this stage, for damages.

It has made a complaint to the Garda and secured orders allowing for variation of non-disclosure undertakings given by Mr Farrell to allow him to provide information sought by the Garda.

Nama and the National Treasury Management Agency last September brought proceedings against Mr Farrell and Ms Kramer, an auditor in the Dublin office of Ernst Young, arising from the alleged misappropriation of the information.

In affidavits in the proceedings, Mr Farrell outlined that, while employed with Nama and after he left the agency, he had provided certain information to named professionals.

* This article was amended on November 28th, 2012, to correct a factual error.