O'Brien wanted £420,000 loan kept secret - bankers

An executive with Investec Bank, formerly GE Capital Woodchester, has said he was told in December 1999 that Mr Denis O'Brien was behind a £420,000 sterling loan application.

Mr Anthony Morland said he was told by Mr Michael Tunney, then a senior executive with the bank, that an application had been received for a loan "for the purchase of property for Denis O'Brien" but that Mr O'Brien didn't want to be associated with the deal.

Mr Morland said he was told the money was wanted for the purchase of a church from a religious order in the UK. He said he was not told by Mr Tunney why Mr O'Brien wanted to keep his involvement confidential.

Another executive of the bank, Mr Michael Cullen, has said he was told in December 1999 by Mr Tunney that Mr O'Brien was "aware" of the transaction.

Mr Morland told Ms Jacqueline O'Brien, for the tribunal, that his recollection of a meeting held with Mr Phelan on February 28th, 2001, accorded with a note of the meeting he wrote immediately afterwards.

The note records Mr Phelan saying: "From a credit viewpoint, the bank had nothing to be unduly concerned with as this was a DO'B [Mr O'Brien] transaction, and he would ensure the bank was looked after."

Mr Morland told Ms O'Brien: "To the best of my recollection that is what he said and that was the intention of what he said."

Another Investec executive, Mr Ivan Wohlman, told Mr John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, that he was told during a telephone conversation with Mr Tunney on March 13th, 2001, that Mr Phelan had told Mr Tunney that Mr O'Brien was behind the loan.

Mr Wohlman said he took a call from Mr Tunney at 7.30 p.m. on his car phone while in a car-park in a train station in London. A note of the conversation written when he got home reads: "He stated that AP [Mr Phelan] had told him DO'B was behind the transaction."

A file note written after another telephone call between the two men a day earlier reads: "He also stated that we should not worry about the credit as Denis was behind it. Asked who Denis was, he confirmed it was Denis O'Brien, with whom the bank already had dealings."

Mr Wohlman, a director of Investec, said the bank decided to approach the Central Bank with what it knew about the transaction for a number of reasons.

These included the fact that Mr O'Brien and Mr Michael Lowry had been mentioned in relation to the loan, and that Mr Phelan had acted as an officer of Catclause Ltd, when in fact he was not.

The tribunal has heard Mr Lowry was a director of the company.

The bank approached the Central Bank on March 12th, 2001. Six days later it approached the tribunal, along with Mr Phelan. Three days later again, Mr Phelan repaid the loan, amounting to £470,000 sterling.

Mr Wohlman said that documents relating to the application for the loan were sent to him on December 22nd, 1999. He decided it should not be approved. A fax to this effect was sent to Mr Tunney the following day. Mr Wohlman did not know that the loan had already been issued.

He told Mr John Gleeson SC, for Mr Phelan, that when he received no reply to his fax of December 23rd, 1999, he presumed the loan application had been dropped.