Pair accused of fraud linked to Nama were in it for the money, jury told

Ian Coulter (left) and Frank Cushnahan (right), pictured on Monday, have denied the charges

The jury in the trial of two prominent businessmen charged in relation to a £1.1bn property fraud have been presented with a series of documents by the prosecution, outlining how they believe the men lied about their involvement.

Frank Cushnahan, 83, of Alexandra Gate, Holywood, denies two fraud charges.

Ian Coulter, 54, of Templepatrick Road, Ballyclare, denies five charges.

The charges relate to the sale of a loan book held by Ireland's National Asset Management Agency (Nama), more than 10 years ago.

The purpose of Nama was to take over billions of property development debts held by banks in the Republic of Ireland.

The Northern Ireland loan book involved loans bundled together into an enormous portfolio.

The debts, which were worth about £4bn, were eventually sold to a US investment fund in 2014 for £1.1bn.

Mr Cushnahan used to be an adviser to Nama, sitting on its Northern Ireland committee known as the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee (NIAC), while his former law firm partner, Mr Coulter, used to be the managing partner at Belfast-based Tughans law firm.

He is now working for a different company.

'Cook up a deal'

As the prosecution opening continued at Belfast Crown Court, Jonathan Kinnear KC went through a series of documents including a multitude of emails from 2012 and 2013.

Some of the emails were to arrange meetings between Mr Coulter, Mr Cushnahan and representatives from Brown Rudnick, a US law firm which has a base in London, to discuss the sale of Northern Ireland's loan book.

Emails also showed arrangements for the defendants to meet the then first minister Peter Robinson and finance minister at the time, Sammy Wilson.

The prosecution told the jury there was a meeting in April 2013 between the minister of finance and Nama representatives including Frank Cushnahan and former Nama chairman Frank Daly.

Mr Kinnear said at this stage "there was still no mention that Nama would sell the portfolio... something Mr Cushnahan was working on unbeknownst to the rest of the Nama team".

"Mr Daly had no idea Mr Cushnahan was already trying to cook up a deal with Mr Coulter.

"What was not said is almost more important than what was said."

Nama was set up by the Irish government to deal with toxic property loans after Ireland's banking crisis in 2008

In the same month, the NIAC held a meeting at Tughans, during which "no disclosures of interests were made" by Mr Cushnahan according to Mr Kinnear.

He told the jury that Mr Cushnahan had not "spoken up" to say he was in conversation with Mr Coulter about the sale of the Northern Ireland portfolio.

"He doesn't mention a word... he keeps completely silent about it."

The prosecution outlined how a similar meeting had taken place in July 2013 but Mr Cushnahan again failed to disclose that he had been working to secure a buyer for Northern Ireland's portfolio.

"Despite the fact Mr Cushnahan was deeply involved at this stage and he had met Mr Watters [accountant David Watters] and Mr Coulter just a week previous, he kept all his involvement secret," Mr Kinnear said.

"There can be no legitimate reason for doing so, he knew there was a clear conflict of interest."

The prosecution said that both defendants were "riding" on a deal to go through as they would receive a "success fee" of millions of pounds.

Mr Kinnear told the jury: "Any suggestion that may come now or later that they were involved in some philanthropic, doing it out of the kindness of their hearts or it was good for the Northern Ireland economy, is very much off the mark.

"These people were in it for the money. There's nothing wrong with doing a deal or making money but it's how they went about it."

What is Nama?

Nama is the Republic of Ireland's "bad bank", set up by the Irish government in 2009 in the wake of the financial crisis which broke out the previous year.

Nama's role was to offload non-performing loans acquired from troubled banks.

Mr Cushnahan and Mr Coulter are both charged with fraud by false representation on or around 3 April 2014.

Mr Coulter faces a further four charges including transferring criminal property, namely money, between 15 September and 1 December 2014.

Between 1 April 2013 and 7 November 2013, Mr Cushnahan is accused of dishonestly failing to disclose information, that he was under a legal obligation to disclose to the Northern Ireland advisory committee and Nama.

He is accused of failing to inform them that he was providing information to a firm called Pimco over the proposed purchase of the Northern Ireland loan book from Nama.

It is alleged his intention was to make a gain for himself or someone else.

Both men deny all of the charges against them.

The trial continues.