A single developer has handed €50m of assets over to Nama that had been transferred to third parties and offshore. Nama has warned developers that it will pursue developers who refuse to reverse those transfers and would take legal action if its borrowers did not comply.

The news comes as gardaí look set to investigate whether some banks misled Nama about the quality of their loan books. The Sunday Tribune was the first to reveal the banks were avoiding formal valuations of commercial properties in order to avoid writing down the value of sites. It also revealed that the banks later avoided getting valuations so that the government-appointed directors would not be aware of the huge losses on their loan books.

A number of developers have unwound asset transfers to their wives and to offshore trusts. "There is no tolerance within Nama for any golden circle or any other circle... We will chase every asset that anybody has," Nama chairman Frank Daly told a Dáil committee recently.