The former managing partner of a leading law firm in Belfast lied to his fellow partners to “save his own skin” regarding a multimillion pound property deal, a Belfast court heard on Thursday.
Ian Coulter – a former managing partner of Tughan’s – is standing trial at Belfast Crown Court on five fraud-related charges arising from the sale of a Northern Ireland property loan book held by the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).
Coulter, who is 54 and from Templepatrick Road in Ballyclare, denied all the charges which the prosecution alleges were committed over a period from April 3 to December 1, 2014.
Also in the dock is prominent businessman Frank Cushnahan. The 83-year old, from Alexandra Gate in Holywood, faces two fraud charges which span from April 1 to November 7, 2013.
Both men have denied all the charges levelled against them.
Prosecuting KC Jonathan Kinnear continued opening the State’s case to the jury for a fourth day.
The jury has already been told that after a deal to sell the Nothern Irish loan book to American investment fund Pimco fell through, a second deal to sell to another US fund, Cerberus, was agreed in April 2014.
Mr Kinnear presented the jury with documents which prosecutors say indicated that Coulter was set to benefit financially from the deal with Cerberus and that his actions were fraudulent.
This, he said, included setting up a business bank account in the Isle of Man for a company which Coulter controlled, using a dormant account held by Tughans to receive a £9 million fee then transferring the sum into the bank account in the Isle of Man.
The prosecutor said Coulter also told a secretary to delete the invoice for the £9 million which was sent from Tughans to the bank account in the Isle of Man, which she did not do.
Mr Kinnear said that when Coulter’s fellow managing partners in Tughans began questioning what has occurred, he started “telling his partners lies to save his own skin.”