OFFICIALS at the Department of Finance and Personnel failed to disclose correspondence between Frank Cushnahan and former minister Simon Hamilton to The Irish News because of "the loss of the context".
The same department has previously been criticised for refusing to release information about Nama to both The Irish News and the Stormont scrutiny committee probing the sale of the bad bank's northern portfolio.
In March this year, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from this newspaper to the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) sought all correspondence between its officials and Mr Cushnahan, the former Belfast Harbour Commissioners chairman who is now at the centre of the controversy surrounding the sale Nama's Northern Ireland debt book.
However, while the response from DFP claimed no such correspondence existed, a later request to Nama unearthed a letter from Mr Cushnahan informing then finance minister Mr Hamilton that he was stepping down from the bad bank's northern advisory committee.
The anomaly prompted The Irish News to request DFP carry out an internal review.
In its further response, DFP said correspondence that is for "information only" and does not require a response from the department are "not always registered".
However, after being alerted to the letter's existence and conducting a search, a copy of Mr Cushnahan’s resignation letter was turned up.
"The loss of the context provided by the covering letter resulted in the failure to identify the letter of resignation as relevant to this request," a department official said.
"Clearly the letter of resignation was part of the correspondence addressed to Simon Hamilton and, in my view, would have been considered as being within the remit of the request, had the context been fully appreciated."
The official went on to say that DFP held no further correspondence which met the FOI request's criteria.
