The National Asset Management Agency has asked a US court to block a request from bankrupt property developer Seán Dunne to question the State loans agency's chief executive Brendan McDonagh.

Mr Dunne served notice on Nama subsidiary National Asset Loan Management last month, seeking to depose Mr McDonagh in Connecticut yesterday.

The notice was served in the legal action taken by Nama against the Co Carlow developer in his US bankruptcy case. The agency is seeking to block his debts being discharged. Protective order Lawyers for Nama, which is owed $343

Asset transfers Nama took its legal challenge in July last year objecting to Mr Dunne's discharge from bankruptcy claiming that he failed to disclose millions of dollars worth of asset transfers to his second wife, Gayle Killilea Dunne, the former newspaper gossip columnist. He was declared bankrupt in Ireland later that month on a petition by another creditor, Ulster Bank.