Inquiry told of altered statements

Statements from Denis O'Brien snr and intended for the London police were altered in relation to references to Michael Lowry's accountant, Denis O'Connor, the tribunal heard.

Mr O'Brien made a number of drafts of a statement to the police in relation to what he said was a blackmail attempt against him and his family, by the vendors of Doncaster Rovers Football Club (DRFC) Ltd, Ken Richardson and Mark Weaver. The alleged blackmail occurred during a mediation hearing in London between the vendors and Mr O'Brien and his representatives.

A November 2002 "final version" of the statement, supplied to the tribunal by William Fry, the solicitors acting for Mr O'Brien, detailed some of the background to the alleged blackmail. The statement said that prior to the mediation hearing, Mr O'Brien received a message in Dublin from Mr Lowry's accountant, Mr O'Connor, which Mr O'Brien was told originated from Mr Richardson and Mr Weaver.

A copy of a letter that linked Mr Lowry to the Doncaster deal "would find its way to people I did not want to see it unless I settled the litigation in respect of DRFC on terms that were favourable . . . Denis O'Connor informed me that information about this matter had come from Kevin Phelan", the statement said.

Mr Phelan is a land agent based in Northern Ireland who acted in the Doncaster deal. He was in dispute with the O'Brien family in 2002 in relation to fees of £150,000 (€220,000) he said he was owed. He has not agreed to give evidence to the tribunal.

When the tribunal put the content of Mr O'Brien's police statement to Mr O'Connor, the accountant said it was not true. A later statement, filed to the police in London, had a different version of the events involving Mr O'Connor. In this statement, Mr O'Brien said he received the letter linking Mr Lowry to the Doncaster deal by fax from Mr O'Connor's office. He later spoke with Mr O'Connor by telephone, according to the statement, and Mr O'Connor informed him that the letter had been forwarded to Mr O'Brien's office without Mr O'Connor having seen it.

Mr O'Connor did not tell him the source of the letter, he said. There was no mention of any contacts with Mr Phelan or messages from him being forwarded to Mr O'Brien.

Mr O'Brien told John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, that he stood over the final statement, the one filed to the tribunal.

Mr O'Brien said he felt he was being blackmailed both in relation to the fees due to Mr Phelan, and in relation to the money due to the vendors.

In a letter to Mr O'Brien's adviser John Ryall, on October 4th, 2002, London solicitor Ruth Collard wrote in relation to both the events. She said the police in Ireland might be more interested in the alleged blackmail there than the English police might be interested in the blackmail that allegedly occurred during the London mediation.

In a note of a telephone conversation five days later, between Ms Collard, Mr O'Brien and Mr Ryall, the solicitor recorded Mr O'Brien as saying: "The letter he had received had not been directly from Richardson or Weaver, but had come from Denis O'Connor. DOC had informed him that he had got the letter via Ken Richardson from Kevin Phelan. DOB said that at that time he had been trying to figure out DOC and had to be friendly to him."