Kenny admits C&AG cannot investigate Siteserv sale

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said the Comptroller and Auditor General is "correct" in his comments that his office cannot investigate the sale of Siteserv.

Speaking on his way into an EU summit in Brussels Mr Kenny insisted the Government has “nothing to hide” in relation to the sale of the business by IBRC.

Asked if he stood over his comments in the Dáil on Wednesday, in which he suggested the C&AG could conduct an investigation into Siteserve, Mr Kenny replied: “The C&AG is correct so what we’re doing now is looking at how this can be made to happen.”

The Taoiseach said the involvement of the C&AG was one option being considered by the Government.

“The Government have nothing to hide here at all. We want to find a way that this can be independently examined and the role and the opportunity for the C&AG to do that are one of the options that are being examined.”

Asked if deals of a similar magnitude would also be included in any commission of inquiry, the Taoiseach responded: “In terms of the wind down of IBRC obviously the number of transactions over a significant amount are easily determined.

“The Government have nothing to hide here at all. We want to find a way that this can be independently examined and the role and the opportunity for the C&AG to do that are one of the options that are being examined.”

“Obviously we wouldn’t like this thing to drag on at all. We would do it as quickly as possible. The challenge is find a way of doing an appropriate, completely independent examination of the issues that have been raised here. “

Earlier on Thursday Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said he was considering a wide-ranging preliminary review of the €45 million sale of Siteserv and other large IBRC transactions.

Speaking in Limerick Mr Noonan accepted the C&AG cannot, at present, investigate the sale.

This is because the IBRC is not on the list of agencies and institutions which the C&AG could review, although Mr Noonan said it could be added. The C&AG made this point at a Public Accounts Committee hearing on Thursday.

Mr Noonan said he would spend the weekend working with his officials to identify an individual or agency to carry out a preliminary review of the €45 million sale of Siteserv and other large IBRC transactions.

The Minister also said it would be inappropriate to confine any review to Siteserv and said there could be a general review of a number of IBRC transactions “that involved a lot of money”.

Widening the scope of any investigation into Siteserv to include other IBRC transactions has been called for by Opposition parties.

“In case there is any delay I am examining with my officials over the weekend to see if there is any other way to get a review which would give the Comptroller and Auditor General, a preliminary report of a series of transactions, so that he wouldn’t be starting at the very end of the line, that he would have a professionally conducted review of a series of transactions to see whether there is merit in him getting involved or not.”

“But he is independent. It is his decision and if I do a preliminary report I will send it to the PAC and then they will be in a position in an informed way to request the C&AG to get involved if they see fit”.

The Government's account to the Dáil of how it dealt with concerns over the acquisition in 2012 of Siteserv by the Denis O'Brien controlled firm Millington has been directly contradicted by Alan Dukes, the former Fine Gael minister for finance and chairman of IBRC.

The sale of Siteserv for €45 million, was done at a loss to the State of €105 million. Mr Dukes insists there was no impropriety involved.

In an answer to a recent Dail question Mr Noonan said that following a meeting between himself and IBRC, former secretary general of the finance department John Moran was sent to further question former IBRC chief executive Mike Aynsley over the Siteserv transaction at another meeting in August 2012.

However Mr Dukes, has stated “categorically” that Mr Moran did not raise any such concerns about the Siteserv sale with Mr Aynsley at the August meeting.

“Contrary to what was stated in answer to a recent Dáil question, the matter was not raised” by Mr Moran at the August meeting, Mr Dukes said.

When asked to clarify how he knew this to be the case, he replied: “Mike Aynsley told me himself that Mr Moran did not raise the issue [of Siteserv] at the meeting. He told me this on more than one occasion.”

Asked about Mr Dukes’s assertion in Limerick today Mr Noonan replied: “John Moran is no longer Secretary General and he said he would comment when he reviews the documentation so I don’t to get into a conflict, which is a matter for John Moran and Alan Dukes to decide between them.”

When asked if it was a sign of the times in 2012 that the best possible interest for the country was to write off €100 million, Mr Noonan replied there was nothing unusual about significant writeoffs.

“If you look at the billions that were involved in Nama and the billions that were involved in all the banks, the way of restructuring was write offs so there is nothing unusual about huge write offs, massive write offs. I mean they were insolvent companies and there was very few people around who were going to take on an insolvent company at the time.”

Mr Noonan insisted the review of the sale of Siteserv by IBRC was being carried out because of the “huge public interest”, not because he has any doubts over impropriety.

The Minister said he accepted the assurances of the board provided through the chairman Alan Dukes.

“But there’s such a furore now there’s a public interest in making sure that any relevant information is made public, so that’s why we are having a review not because I have continuing doubts but I don’t know the full facts because I wasn’t party to it at the time.”

“But there is a public interest to have a review and if there anything to disclose lets have full disclosure I have no problem in that,” he added. The Minister said there isn’t a “shred of evidence” to suggest malpractice.

“What I am saying is that if I can get an appropriate agency or individual to do a preliminary review I don’t think it would be appropriate to confine that to Siteserv and there could be a general review of a number of transactions that involved a lot of money.”

When asked if there much concern at departmental level in general terms about deals being conducted by IBRC two or three years ago, Mr Noonan said when the Siteserv deal was completed in Spring 2012 there was no requirement on the bank to give the details of transactions to the Department of Finance.

However, once concerns over the sale were expressed, Mr Noonan met Mr Dukes on a number of occasions.

At one of these meetings - when Siteserv was one of the key issues - former IBRC chief executive Mike Aynsley was also present.

“He [Dukes] gave me an absolute assurance that he had had the transaction reviewed by the board of IBRC and that he could assure me that as far as he and the board were concerned everything was done properly and the transaction was in the best interest of the Irish State, that’s minuted and you will see the minutes when the documents come out either today or tomorrow,” Mr Noonan said.

Mr Noonan said he accepts Mr Dukes’s assertion that there was no impropriety involved in the sale.

"He's an honourable person and there was a very distinguished board as well. The board of Anglo Irish Bank stood down. These people were people of high reputation who went in to do the State some service.

“They weren’t getting a lot of out it. They were trying to do what was in the best interest of the country so I wouldn’t like to impugn the reputation of either the Board or Alan Dukes and I have never done so.”