The National Asset Management Agency sold multi-million euro loans at a 97.5% discount to a debtor's brother, an Oireachtas committee has heard today.
The 2020 sale followed "threats and intimidation" by the debtor against the NAMA-appointed receiver, who resigned.
The same debtor had also engaged in "attempts to intimidate" two NAMA employees in 2012, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) heard.
Every sales agent who had been asked to market the properties had refused to do so "when they heard who the assets belonged to", NAMA's chief executive Brendan McDonagh said.
He revealed that the properties are all located in one county.
"This was so exceptional" that he had included it in his report, Seamus McCarthy told the committee.
NAMA ultimately sold €10.5m in loans for €265,000 to the brother of the debtor.
A local authority had offered the same amount for a portion of the assets, but then had chosen not to proceed with the purchase, the committee heard.
The receiver resigned shortly after that deal fell through.
NAMA now has "over 500 receiverships", Mr McDonagh said, adding that this was the only time one had resigned.
"There is no suggestion in the [C&AG's] report that the sale was conducted improperly, without sufficient due diligence, nor was non-compliant with the NAMA Act," Mr McDonagh said.
"This wasn't easy from the get-go", Fianna Fáil Deputy Cormac Devlin said.
But he suggested that NAMA's failure to develop a policy to deal with threats against its staff was "remiss".
"I think NAMA should have a procedure," he said, given its employees had faced intimidation over a decade ago.
Mr McDonagh said that Pearse Street Gardaí had spoken to the "two guys" who had worked for NAMA, and had gone to their homes to advise on security.
The receiver who had resigned chose not to engage with gardaí, he noted.
The entire affair was "extraordinary and unbelievable," Sinn Féin's John Brady said.
'Significant obstacles' in housing delivery
The NAMA chief also flagged "a number of significant obstacles to delivering additional quantities of housing at the levels Ireland needs".
"One of these is the achievement of the appropriate planning approvals," Mr McDonagh said.
"Planning costs are significant and average circa €3,000 per residential unit," he noted.
Securing planning permission "continues to be a significant challenge, with many applications awaiting a decision from An Bord Pleanála for almost two years," Mr McDonagh said.
"In addition, our debtors and other housebuilders deem a judicial review almost inevitable when a planning approval is granted," he added.
