Lowry link to football club deal 'a mistake'

A LETTER linking Michael Lowry TD with the purchase of English football club Doncaster Rovers was “a mistake”, the solicitor who wrote it has said.

Christopher Vaughan said he “could not think why” in a letter to businessman Kevin Phelan, he said the former minister for energy, transport and communications had “total involvement” in the purchase of the football club.

The Moriarty tribunal, which has been examining allegations of payments to politicians since 1997, reconvened yesterday to hear Mr Vaughan’s evidence.

The English solicitor acted in the purchase of three properties in England in the late 1990s which the Moriarty tribunal is examining. He was served with a summons to attend the tribunal on a visit to Dublin in January this year.

He was being questioned as part of the tribunal’s inquiries into whether businessman Denis O’Brien gave financial support to Mr Lowry. Mr O’Brien’s company Esat Digifone won the 1995 mobile phone licence competition run by Mr Lowry’s department. Mr Lowry has said he played no role in the selection of the winner.

Mr O’Brien was involved in the purchase of Doncaster Rovers in 1998. He has always said Mr Lowry had no involvement.

Counsel for Mr O’Brien was present during the hearing yesterday, as was Mr Lowry and his counsel.

Mr Vaughan read into the record his statement to the tribunal on his part in the purchases of a farm at Mansfield, Yorkshire, a church in Cheadle, Staffordshire and Doncaster Rovers. Mr Lowry was involved in the purchase in Cheadle and Mansfield.

He said Mr Phelan, whose work involved putting together property deals for clients that could be sold off quickly at a profit, introduced all three transactions to him.

In January 1998, Mr Phelan asked him to act in the purchase of Doncaster Rovers. The grounds were very run down but were capable of being developed for residential use and the plan was to relocate the club, he said. Accountant Aidan Phelan was to source the finance for the project.

The club was eventually bought in August 1998 using funds from Anglo Irish Bank. Mr Vaughan said he dealt with Kevin Phelan at all times during the transaction.

“At no time was I aware of the existence or involvement of Denis O’Brien junior or senior,” he said. And though Mr O’Brien’s name was mentioned in the Anglo Irish Bank facilitation letter, he didn’t recall seeing it.

He met Mr Lowry for the first time on the evening of September 23rd, 1998 with the two Mr Phelans in his office in Northampton to discuss the purchase of the Mansfield property.

“He instructed me he was the purchaser of the property,” Mr Vaughan said.

He said there was a discussion about Doncaster Rovers, and Mr Phelan did not seem to mind the matter being talked about in front of Mr Lowry, although he was not a party to the deal.

The following day, Mr Vaughan met Mr Lowry again and drove him to a medical appointment. They talked about many topics and, Mr Vaughan said, Mr Lowry made a strong impression on him as a man who “wished to move matters forwards”. Afterwards, he wrote a letter to Mr Phelan in which he talked about Mr Lowry’s “total involvement” in the Doncaster Rovers deal.

“I made a mistake,” he said.

“With the benefit of hindsight, I think his interest in trying to move matters forward was the reality of a politician’s interest.”

He said he never spoke to Mr Lowry, wrote to him or communicated with him in relation to the football club after their meeting.

Other correspondence he wrote to Mr Phelan in relation to the Cheadle property in which he confused Mr Lowry with Aidan Phelan was “an easy mistake to make”, Mr Vaughan said.