Two prominent businessmen have gone on trial in Belfast accused of fraud related to a National Asset Management Agency loan deal of more than £1 billion.
83-year-old Frank Cushnahan, with an address at Alexandra Gate in Holywood in Co Down, is facing two charges.
54-year-old Ian Coulter, with an address at Templepatrick Road in Ballyclare in Co Antrim, is facing five charges.
Mr Cushnahan, a business consultant and former member of NAMA's Northern Ireland advisory committee, is charged with fraud by failing to disclose information and fraud by false representation.
Mr Coulter, a solicitor and former law firm managing partner, faces two charges of fraud by false representation, a charge of making or supplying articles for use in fraud, a charge of removing criminal property and a charge of transferring criminal property.
The two defendants have pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The charges relate to the sale, over a decade ago, of a loan book of Northern Ireland properties held by NAMA.
The agency was set up by the Irish government in 2009 to deal with bad property loans after Ireland's banking crisis in 2008.
NAMA bought the bad loans from the banks at a steep discount and then sold them off to the highest bidder.
The Northern Ireland loan book involved loans bundled together into an enormous portfolio known as Project Eagle.
The debts, which were worth around £4 billion, were eventually sold to a US investment fund in 2014 for £1.1 billion.
Opening the trial this afternoon, Jonathan Kinnear KC, said it was the prosecution's case that the two defendants were "heavily involved in the brokering and arrangement of the deal".
He said it is alleged by the prosecution that "in return for their work, they were to be paid millions of pounds each, we say, from a success fee of about £15 million".
The prosecution barrister told the members of the jury that "motivated by greed, they both acted dishonestly, withholding information and providing false information to ensure that they shared the massive profits that were available."
After outlining an overview of the prosecution’s case, Mr Kinnear told the jurors that "ultimately you will need to decide if the defendants acted dishonestly".
The prosecution told the jury it will take a couple of days to complete the opening statements in this trial, which is being heard at Belfast Crown Court, before Judge Madam Justice Denise McBride.
12 jurors, nine men and three women, were sworn in to hear the case, which is expected to take up to 12 weeks.
The prosecuting barrister told the jury that the purpose of NAMA was "to take over many billions of property development debts held by a number of the major Irish banks".
Mr Kinnear said the case relating to the two defendants, "relates to the sale of approximately £4 billion worth of those debts, which were secured largely against property in Northern Ireland".
"That £4 billion package of debts was sold for £1.1 billion."
In relation to Mr Cushnahan, Mr Kinnear told the jury he is a "well-known business figure in Northern Ireland" who has held a number of high-profile roles and was "known and indeed trusted by many prominent politicians".
He said as a result of his profile, the businessman was appointed as external member of the NAMA Northern Ireland Advisory Committee (NIAC) in 2010.
The jury was told NIAC was set up to advise NAMA in respect of any property debts it owned in Northern Ireland.
As a member of the committee, the prosecution barrister said Mr Cushnahan was "under a legal duty to disclose any conflict of interest that he may have".
It was alleged that in breach of this legal duty, Mr Cushnahan "secretly worked on a deal for the whole of the Northern Ireland loan book to be sold by NAMA to an American investment fund called Pimco".
He said it was the prosecution case that "without telling NAMA he was involved with Pimco, he provided assistance to Pimco in the expectation that he would receive the success fee of several million pounds".
The jury was told that shortly before the deal was due to complete, NAMA found out that Mr Cushnahan had been assisting Pimco, and the deal fell through.
Mr Kinnear said that "wasn't the end of it" because instead, a new buyer was found, another American fund investment fund called Cerberus, and the sale was eventually completed for £1.1 billion.
"The prosecution's case is the Mr Cushnahan continued to help from the shadows and expected to receive his cut of the £15 million success fee," Mr Kinnear added.
Belfast Crown Court was told that Mr Coulter was a solicitor and the managing partner of Tughans, one of Northern Ireland's largest commercial law firms.
"He was introduced to the idea of the Northern Ireland loan book being sold by Mr Cushnahan," said Mr Kinnear.
Mr Kinnear claimed Mr Coulter had bought a company in the Isle of Man and used a fraudulent invoice in the name of a company called Morely to extract £7.2 million from legal firm Tughans, where he was a managing partner.
"He did so in order to launder his ill-gotten gains by removing them from Northern Ireland into a bank account that only he had control over, with the intention thereafter of paying both Mr Cushnahan and himself."
He said that the co-accused together "worked to persuade the politicians in both Dublin and Belfast that the sale of the Northern Ireland loan book would be a positive benefit to all".
The court heard that "they also sought out, met and encouraged and assisted potential buyers".
"They did this because they expected to receive and share a very substantial success fee."
The prosecution barrister said there is "nothing intrinsically wrong" with a success fee in principle, but he said that "it was the way in which these two defendants went about it and the way in which Mr Cushnahan did not reveal that he was involved in the deal to the entity which was selling the deal".
The trial continues tomorrow.
