The former Executive Vice President of a US investment firm has confirmed a decision to withdrawn from a deal to purchase the Northern Ireland loan book was taken by the firm’s legal team.

Laurent Luccioni, who was a senior figure within Pimco, was the latest witness to give evidence at a fraud trial being held at Belfast Crown Court.

Ian George Coulter (54), a former managing partner of Tughans solicitors from Templepatrick Road in Ballyclare, has been charged with five offences over a timeframe of April 3 to December 1, 2014.

His 83-year old co-accused Frank Hugh Cushnahan, from Alexandra Gate in Holywood, faces two charges spanning a period from April 1 to November 7, 2013.

Both men have denied all the charges which relate to the sale of the Northern Ireland property loan book held by the National Assets Management Agency (NAMA).

Questioned by Crown barrister Jonathan Kinnear KC, Mr Luccioni, who left Pimco in 2020, confirmed that as part of his former role, he was a member of the Bravo Investment Committee (BIC) during the relevant time period.

He also confirmed that he was James Gilbert’s line manager.

Mr Gilbert, a former vice president of Pimco, has already given evidence in the trial and said his role at the time was to source and execute real estate-related investments for the firm.

Mr Kinnear asked Mr Luccioni if, in or around May 2013, Mr Gilbert told him about a potential opportunity for the purchase of the Northern Ireland loan book, which became known as Project Eagle.

Confirming this, Mr Luccioni said it was agreed the deal was something worth pursuing, and it was also agreed that Mr Gilbert would take it forward and report the progress back to him so that he, in turn, could report back to the BIC.

Mr Kinnear then asked Mr Luccioni about travelling to Belfast on May 23, 2013 for a meeting at Stormont with the then First Minister Peter Robinson and Sammy Wilson, who at the time was the Finance Minister.

Mr Luccioni said he went with Mr Gilbert and another figure from Pimco and that prior to going to Stormont, he met with Cushnahan and Coulter.

Saying this was an “introductory meeting” as “we had never met them before”, Mr Luccioni said the initial meeting was both to discuss the deal and to prepare for the meeting with members of the Northern Ireland Executive.

When asked what role Cushnahan played at those meetings, Mr Luccioni described him as having a “broker role in terms of introducing us to Stormont and he had a relationship with Nama.”

Mr Luccioni was also asked about Coulter’s role and he said he believed he was a “lawyer looking after the legal aspect of it.”

He added he saw Cushnahan and Coulter as “two people working together.”

Mr Luccioni if there came a time when Pimco’s legal department “raised an issue in relation to the payment of the success fee.”

Saying that from a commercial point of view there were going to be concerns about “the alignment of interests” regarding a success fee, Mr Luccioni said that from a legal point of view “disclosure” was sought.

He added that as far as he knew, the Northern Ireland Government “was aware” of the success fee and as he understood at that point Nama “was not aware yet but it was always the plan that they would be made aware of it before the transaction proceeded.”

As the jury has already heard, Pimco withdrew its interest in purchasing the Northern Ireland loan book in March 2014.

When he was asked if he knew why this was, Mr Luccioni said this decision was made by Pimco’s legal team and that he was not involved in the decision-making process.

Mr Luccioni added: “The BIC didn’t make any decision to end the deal. The deal was ended by legal and compliance.”

Defence barrister Frank O’Donoghue KC, representing Cushnahan, asked Mr Luccioni if he only met his client once.

The witness confirmed that the only time he met Cushnahan was when he travelled to Belfast for the meeting at Stormont in May 2013.

Mr Luccioni also agreed that he relied on Mr Gilbert for all relevant information regarding Project Eagle.

The witness also had questions put to him by Coulter’s barrister Paddy Taggart and agreed that the only time he met the former lawyer was in May 2013.

When Mr Taggart asked Mr Luccioni “is it correct to say that at no stage did Mr Coulter mention anything about fees or seeking a fee?”, he replied “during that meeting no, I don’t remember him mentioning anything about fees.”