“Mr Cushnahan was to share in a three-way split of £15m with US law firm and Ian Coulter…”

Here we go, the little matter of the Tughan’s money just took the Dail committee to ask a few pertinent questions this morning to throw some light on previous the Pimco deal…

A former Nama adviser was in line for a £5m payment after the sale of Nama’s property loan portfolio in Northern Ireland, an Irish parliament (Dáil) committee has been told.

A US investment firm, PIMCO, pulled out of the tender bidding process after discovering the fee arrangement to Nama’s former adviser, Frank Cushnahan. The revelation came during a hearing of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Mr Daly told the committee that the PIMCO bid not go ahead because of the discovery of the involvement of Mr Cushnahan.

He said Mr Cushnahan was to share in a three-way split of £15m with a US law firm and Ian Coulter, who was then a managing partner of Belfast law firm, Tughans.

No politicians named, nor any politician’s sons. Of course, not pleasant, and as I noted in the #SluggerReport yesterday, a case should be made for looking at how public appointments are made and monitored, not least so that any such transactions are seen to be above board.

But, erm, none of this is illegal either. This may or may not prove to be a larger version of the model used in the Cerberus deal…

Now, what’s been happening at NI Sport, where the knives have been out and there’s very definitely fresh bloodstains on carpet?

Update: From RTE News with more detail:

Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald told Mr Daly that NAMA had a duty of care in ensure nothing improper occurs in their sales.

She said while she accepted that NAMA could not control third-parties, she did not accept the “end justifies the means” approach.

Mr Daly told Ms McDonald he would love to see the Isle of Man allegations investigated and he said he welcomed the PSNI’s investigation.

He insisted they had explained how they had fire-proofed the sale but Ms McDonald said the sale should have been aborted and alarm bells should have been ringing “like Big Ben”.

Mr Daly said the real test is if we got value for money and “I absolutely believe we did”.

And from Micheal Lehane…

NAMA won't appear before Northern Ireland's Finance Committee,chair Frank Daly says it accountable only to Oireachtas Committees @rtenews

— Mícheál Lehane (@MichealLehane) July 9, 2015

Mick Fealty

Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty