FIRST Minister Peter Robinson held a series of secret meetings with a former US vice president who heads the investment company linked to a massive financial scandal.
Details have emerged of top level meeting between the DUP leader and Cerberus chairman Dan Quayle in Belfast last March - which was also attended by Ian Coulter, the solicitor who is at the centre of the controversy.
Sinn Féin last night expressed surprise at the revelation and revealed that the meeting took place without the knowledge of the deputy first minister.
Coulter, the former managing partner of Tughans, made a dramatic exit from the Belfast law firm in January after he was caught diverting £7m of fees, understood to be relating to the Cerberus transaction, to an offshore bank.
Sensational claims were made last week linking the money to the deal and claiming it was earmarked for a Northern Ireland politician or party.
The first meeting at Stormont Castle came just 10 days before Cerberus paid a knock-down £1.3 billion for the Northern Ireland assets owned by the Dublin government's "bad bank" Nama.
When the property sale, the largest in the history of Northern Ireland, was announced on 4th April 2014, the First Minister said that he had spoken to Quayle, who served alongside George Bush senior between 1989 and 1993, the night before and had been told that a team from Cerberus would be sent to Belfast "to meet with us to discuss the way forward."
The Stormont Castle meeting, just 10 days previously, was not mentioned.
A second private meeting took place in September 2014 - which was this time attended by Martin McGuinness.
Again no media outlet was alerted and no press release sent. The only public record of the meeting was a 'selfie' with Quayle and Robinson on Twitter posted by Martin McGuiinness. ?
He said he attended because it gave him an "opportunity to raise our legitimate concerns relating to any fire sale of the Nama properties, the approach of Cerberus and to outline my determination to protect and support the local economy."
Details of the meetings came amid growing calls for a police investigation into the dealings surrounding the Nama sale, which was the biggest property deal in Ireland's history.
In other developments yesterday:
- Stormont committee probe got underway with DUP member branding it a "dirty scheme".
- The Law Society to co-operate with any police and urges anyone with information to do likewise
- Irish Government rejects mounting calls for enquiry
- Gerry Adams said allegations surrounding the Nama sale suggested "insider trading and political cronyism".
- DUP issue libel threat over online allegations linked to controversy
TUV leader Jim Allister, who has tabled written questions at Stormont asking if Cerberus had met the first and deputy first ministers, called for an explanation as to why details of the meetings with such high profile figures were not made public.
"Peter Robinson needs to come clean who he met, when he met them and why he met them in every respect of the Nama/Cerabus deal. There is increasing public unease attracted to this saga and he needs to address it.
"There should be some transparency about what the meeting was about and explanation as to why it was done under the radar. Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness are not usually shy about a photo opportunity," he said.
The Irish News also revealed this week that Peter Robinson met a separate US investment company, Pimco, when it considered buying the Northern Ireland Nama portfolio.
The company previously said it was contacted on an "unsolicited basis by third parties with a proposal relating to the potential purchase" and ultimately pulled out before Cerberus clinched the deal last April. Mr Robinson has stressed he never received any proceeds in relation to the Nama sale.
