FORMER GOVERNMENT minister Michael Lowry has launched a strong attack on the Moriarty tribunal’s examination of a witness this week in connection with property deals in England.
Referring to the examination of English solicitor Christopher Vaughan, who acted in the three property deals, Mr Lowry said he was “extremely concerned” at the way Mr Vaughan’s evidence was presented by the tribunal.
A spokesman for the tribunal would not comment. Mr Lowry issued a press statement yesterday on the taking of evidence over three days from Mr Vaughan, who acted for the purchasers in the three property deals. Mr Lowry’s counsel, Donal O’Donnell SC, attended Mr Vaughan’s evidence during the week, but did not have any questions for him when the opportunity arose.
Asked why no such cross-examination took place, Mr Lowry told The Irish Times yesterday that the decision not to question Mr Vaughan was taken “for tactical reasons” and that the evidence given by Mr Vaughan was supportive of Mr Lowry’s evidence to the tribunal. In his statement, Mr Lowry said all the facts had not been presented in relation to the property transactions from which, he said, he never received “a red cent”. He said: “The tribunal has created a public perception that I was the beneficiary of some undefined payment from these property transactions.”
Mr Lowry said the tribunal had over the past week “put forward numerous, far-fetched hypotheses or theories to Mr Vaughan. These theories have gained currency in the media.” For this reason, he said, he felt compelled to respond.
The tribunal is inquiring into deals at Cheadle, Mansfield and Doncaster in the late 1990s. All three deals involved Mr Vaughan and Aidan Phelan, who was at the time an accountant working for the businessman Denis O’Brien.
Mr Lowry said he had put a deposit on the property at Cheadle but was unable to close the deal. It was taken over by Mr Phelan. “One hundred per cent of the proceeds of the sale were retained by the owner of the Cheadle property Aidan Phelan and disbursed personally by him to his own ends.”
On the Mansfield property, he said he paid a deposit of stg£25,000 on the property in 1999. “Even the tribunal accepts that this stg£25,000 came from my own personal funds. To this day, I retain 10 per cent of the beneficial ownership of the property with the remainder being held by Aidan Phelan.”
He had never made any money out of the deals. “My sole remaining interest in these UK properties is 10 per cent of a derelict farm in Mansfield which has turned out to have been a very ill- advised investment in financial terms.” He said 13 witnesses gave evidence in relation to the Doncaster deal and every one had said he had no involvement with it. The tribunal has been told the Doncaster deal was Mr O’Brien’s and had nothing to do with Mr Lowry.
The tribunal has issued preliminary findings on its inquiries, but these may change following last week’s sittings.