FAS DIRECTOR SAYS OVERSPENDING KEPT FROM BOARD - Information about overspending and serious breaches of procedure was 'deliberately' kept from the board of FAS, a director of the state employment and training authority has told the Irish Times. Niall Saul, an employers' representative on the FAS board, said inquiries by the board have established that items that have featured in the controversy were identified at executive level but not reported to the board. He said the items 'absolutely should have been reported up' to the board, but were not. Other FAS directors who spoke to the Irish Times, but did not wish to be identified, echoed Mr Saul's views. 'There was a culture of non-disclosure and the board was not told the full facts,' one director said. 'We now have proof that what was going on was being hidden from us. At a minimum there was misinformation. There were cases where the board was misled.'
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INVESTMENT GIANT SAYS NAMA PLAN A 'ROADMAP FOR EUROPE'- US investment giant Bridgewater Associates, which also runs the world's largest hedge fund, has described the NAMA project as "clever" and says it may provide a roadmap for the pumping of cheap funding into other struggling European economies, writes the Irish Independent. The firm gained huge respect among central banks and governments globally after predicting in July of last year - two months before the financial system went into meltdown - that bank losses from the US subprime-induced credit crisis may reach $1.6 trillion. The tally currently stands at $1.62 trillion, according to Bloomberg data. In a note issued to clients this week, the firm said the Irish Government "seemingly couldn't handle" the situation earlier this year as banks' loan losses spiralled, and it appeared that it would need to borrow the equivalent of 46% of economic output "to get the banking system out of a tailspin". Rather than borrowing €54 billion in the global market to pay banks for €77 billion of risky property loans, NAMA will pay the institutions in government-backed bonds which can be cashed in with the European Central Bank. The bonds will carry a coupon, or interest rate, of just 0.5 percentage points above the key ECB rate.
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BORD GAIS BOSS: 'NO PRIVATISATION PLANS' - There are no plans to remove Bord Gáis from state control, according to chief executive John Mullins who also revealed that profits will be down this year, says the Irish Examiner. Bord Gáis will, however, still return a "manageable" profit and will report a turnover of around €450 million from its energy business this year. Mr Mullins said it is the firm's view is that it does not need privatisation for funding and the issue is "not within the remit of the board". "There's a view by the opposition that they would like to privatise. I have a fundamental view that infrastructure should be held by the state. That is vitally important. We've seen what has happened in other sectors where privatisation has taken place. It hasn't worked," he said. "State infrastructure is a national asset. The founders of this company and the founders of ESB set up the companies to service the state and we do that appropriately," he added. Mr Mullins said Bord Gáis must continue to reduce costs and offer value to customers. He said any proposals for privatisation will be a Government decision and will have nothing to do with the company.
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BRITAIN QUESTIONS VIABILITY OF OPEL PLAN - Britain has questioned the viability of Magna International's plan to buy Opel in a letter to European competition chief Neelie Kroes in a fresh challenge to the politically charged sale of General Motors' European arm. In the letter, obtained by the Financial Times, Lord Mandelson, Britain's business secretary, said that the Canadian company's restructuring blueprint was too expensive and too punitive of productive plants, and susceptible to "political intervention". "We do not believe the case has been demonstrated that the current Magna proposal is commercially the most viable plan," Lord Mandelson said in the letter, which was sent to Ms Kroes on Tuesday. Britain's main business policymaker urged the European Commission to engage in the case "to ensure a commercially-based outcome rather than one determined by political intervention and subsidies". Lord Mandelson said that Magna's proposal, for which it is seeking €4.5bn ($6.6bn) of German-led European government aid, was €1.3bn more expensive than a rival bid from investment group RHJ International, and as much as €2bn more than a rescue of Opel that would have left it under GM's control.
