Stormont's finance committee is to probe claims that a leading Belfast law firm had £7m in an offshore bank account “reportedly earmarked for a Northern Ireland politician” or party following a massive property deal.
The Irish News can confirm that the senior legal figure at the centre of the allegations is Ian Coulter, former managing director of Belfast firm Tughans.
Sinn Féin's Daithí McKay, who chairs the assembly's finance committee, said he will convene an emergency sitting to examine the allegations.
"As part of this examination I would expect Cerberus to appear before the committee," he said.
"I would intend to call on Nama officials and Mick Wallace to appear before the committee and the law firm involved to elaborate on their recent statement on the matter."
TD Mick Wallace called yesterday for an independent inquiry after raising concerns about the 2014 sale of the Northern Ireland property portfolio held by the Republic's NAMA 'bad bank' to a New York investment firm.
Cerberus Capital Management paid less than €1.5bn for the assets which included more than 850 properties relating to loans with an original face value of €4.5bn.
Using his Dáil privilege to name Tughans Solicitors, the Independent TD said the firm “looked after the deal” for Cerberus but alleged that a “routine audit” had showed that “£7m sterling ended up in an Isle of Man bank account”.
Mr Wallace also claimed the money had been “reportedly earmarked for a Northern Ireland politician” or party.
Tughans last night denied any wrongdoing, saying the practice was “not linked to any political party nor has it ever made party political donations”.
1/2) Stories such as that from the Dail damage politics.
— Peter Robinson (@DUPleader) July 3, 2015
2/2) Those with information should give it to the authorities to test its credibility in a thorough investigation.
— Peter Robinson (@DUPleader) July 3, 2015However, the firm confirmed that a “former partner” - understood to be Ian Coulter - had “diverted to an account of which he was the sole beneficiary professional fees due to the firm, without the knowledge of the partners”.
"We have since retrieved the money and he has left the practice,” the statement said.
A spokesman for Cerberus said: "We are deeply troubled by Mick Wallace's allegations and we want to make it clear that no improper or illegal fees were paid by us or on our behalf and we take any allegations to the contrary extremely seriously."
TUV calls for full Investigation into Cerberus Saga http://t.co/lZcC3cuqWM
— Jim Allister (@JimAllister) July 2, 2015
