NAMA have claimed in the Commercial Court that developer Harry Crosbie incorrectly told them he had no uncharged assets when they provided him with €32 million in taxpayers' money for the completion of the Point Village development. The agency told Mr Justice David Keane yesterday that Crosbie had misappropriated monies from companies intended for NAMA and made payments to his wife (to the sum of €1.39 million) and his children around the period when NAMA took over his loans. This is denied by Harry Crosbie.
NAMA have now sought an entitlement to summary judgement for €77m.
Crosbie's SC, Michael McDowell, put forth the argument that NAMA are attempting to bankrupt his client and are not entitled to summary judgement.
The agency is owed €431 million from companies linked to Crosbie.
“Insiders have known that NAMA and Harry were on a collision course for some time,” a well placed music industry source told Hot Press. “You can imagine just what an emotional wrench it is for someone who has developed a venue like The Point and seen it transform into the O2 to have all of that taken away from them. But the nature of NAMA is that it is a machine. It is designed to get the highest possible return for the taxpayer.
“They have tried to maintain a reasonable facade and to deal with people fairly. But the case they are making is that assets were concealed which should have been revealed when they sat down with Harry in the first place to sort things out. That’s at the core of what the courts are going to adjudicate on. Harry is a tough guy, but where he is right now is not a nice place for anyone to be.”
Hot Press understands that the O2 is now fully owned by Live Nation. The US entertainment giant already ran the venue with a share structure which gave them control, even though Harry Crosbie had 50% of the shares in the joint venture. Those shares went to NAMA under the terms of the deal worked out between the state ‘bad bank’ and the developer – and they have now ben sold to Live Nation.