O'Brien angered at alleged 'oppressive' questioning

There were angry exchanges and accusations of "adversarial questioning" of Mr Denis O'Brien this morning as the Moriarty tribunal delved deeper into thecircumstances behind the businessman'spurchase of a house in Spain.

Denis O'Brien: said the Tribunal lawyers were trying to twist his words

Mr Eoin McGonigal SC for Mr O'Brien accused counsel for the tribunal Mr John Coughlan SC ofengaging in "questioning ranging from inquisitive to adversarial".

Mr O'Brien himselfhalted questioning on a number of occasions, alleging he was being subjected to "oppressive"treatment.On each occasion he was instructedby Mr Justice Moriarty toanswer the questions posed to him.

The tribunal was attempting to discover the details behind Mr O'Brien's purchase of a house in Marbella for his parents from a terminally ill David Austin in 1996.

It is alleged this money later found its way into the bank account of Mr Austin's close associate Mr Michael Lowry of Fine Gael. Mr Lowry wasthe Minister for Communications at the time of the awarding of a mobile phone licence in 1995 to East Digifone.

Mr O'Brien told the tribunal fears over the implications of a television report promptedhimto disclose his purchase of thehouse for £150,000 from Mr Austin, thetribunal heard today.

The report, on RTÉ news in May, 2001, claimed Mr Lowry, would be facing tough questioning at the tribunal over his receipt of a loan for £150,000 from Austin in 1996.

Mr O'Brien saidhe disclosed his dealings with Mr Austin because "it was quite a libellous broadcast because it showed pictures of me and Mr Lowry. I wasn't happy with it at all."

"I was concerned because I had bought a house from David Austin, and some time later he gave Michael Lowry £150,000. I never knew about this loan," Mr O'Brien said.

Through an examination of Mr O'Brien regarding a number of letters from his solicitor Mr Owen O'Sullivan the tribunal said it establishedtwo payments - one of £100,000 and one of £50,000 - were made to an offshore account in the name of David Austin in 1996.

These were made through an account opened by Mr Aidan Phelan in the AIB branch in the Isle ofMan under instructions from Mr O'Brien, the tribunal heard.

This money came from a director's loan to Mr O'Brien from one of his companies, Radio International NV, a Dutch subsidiary of another of his companies Communicorp Radio Group.

But Mr O'Brien claimed today he did not know the exact details of the payments at the time they were made; hence his delay in informing the tribunal of the transactions.

"It didn't seem relevant," Mr O'Brien said, when asked why the buying of the house had only come to the attention of the tribunalin recent weeks.

"It's getting adversarial now," he said in response to further questioning on the topic from Mr Coughlan. "You're trying to twist words. You've got to be fair to me here."

"But you knew when you were asked by this tribunal that in 1996 you instructed Aidan Phelan to pay DavidAustin £150,000?" Mr Coughlan said.

"No I didn't," Mr O'Brien answered. "I don'tremember every bit of documentation."