Assembly committee recording played at Nama trial
A recording of an assembly committee meeting during which loyalist activist Jamie Bryson claimed the then first minister Peter Robinson was set to benefit from the Nama deal was played in court today.
In the aftermath of Mr Bryson's appearance in Stormont almost 10 years ago, Mr Robinson issued a statement and branded the allegations made against him as “scurrilous and unfounded” and without “one iota of evidence”.
The meeting of the finance and personnel committee – which was held in Stormont in September 2015 – is at the basis of a trial currently being held at Belfast Crown Court.
Mr Bryson is one of three people charged with offences linked to the committee meeting.
The 35-year old from Rosepark in Donaghadee and co-accused Thomas Gerard O'Hara, 41, from Lisnahunshin Road in Cullybackey have both been charged that on dates between September 1 and 24, 2015, they 'conspired together and with Daithi McKay to commit an offence of misconduct in a public office'.
Mr McKay, 43, who is from Loughan Road in Dunnamanagh and who in September 2015 was chairman of the committee, has been charged with misconduct in a public office on September 23, 2015.
All three defendants have denied the charges levelled against them.
On the third day of the non-jury trial, a recording of the committee session where Mr Bryson was called to give evidence regarding the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) was played to the court.
It's the Crown's case that the rules of this committee were subverted to cause political embarrassment to Mr Robinson who, in September 2015, was first minister.
The Crown also allege that due to messages exchanged between Mr Bryson and the two Sinn Fein members prior to the meeting, there was manipulation of how this evidence was presented.
In September 2015, the committee was investigating how Northern Ireland property loans were handled by Nama.
On September 23, Mr Bryson gave evidence at the committee regarding the sale of property loans which he told the committee members he could “stand over 110%”.
During the session, he named a number of people, including Mr Robinson, who he claimed would benefit financially from the Nama deal.
After he made his claims, Mr Bryson was asked by chairman Mr McKay “do you have evidence pertaining to that?”
Mr Bryson responded by saying that he didn't want to “stray into the ongoing investigation” which at the time was being conducted by the National Crime Agency (NCA).
At this point, the DUP's Jim Wells interjected and said “chairman, I must protest”. Saying there was “no direct evidence” from Mr Bryson, Mr Wells said “he has moved on to make extremely serious allegations and all he has is hearsay and his opinion”.
Mr Bryson said documentary evidence was in the possession of the NCA, and when asked if he was prepared to name sources who supplied him with the information, he replied “absolutely not” and said he was not prepared to “breach that confidence”.
After he concluded, Mr Bryson was addressed by Sinn Fein's Mairtin O'Muilleoir who thanked him then said: “I do not want to hurt your feelings but amongst some people in the community, you may not be seen as a very credible witness.
“How can we be sure that you are not here because you hate the DUP even more than you hate Sinn Fein.”
Mr Bryson said “I do not...” but was interrupted by Mr O'Muilleoir who questioned whether “animus” towards the people he named had “motivated the evidence”.
Mr Bryson responded by saying “the evidence is here ... you can see from the evidence pack that it is factual and there are accounts to back it up. I have come here and provided the information that I have been given in good faith”.
At hearing.