Phelan says all contact with Lowry was on his own behalf

Mr Denis O'Brien's former accountant said that at all times when he was working with Mr Michael Lowry he was working for himself and not for Mr O'Brien.

Mr Aidan Phelan said no alarm bell rang when in March 1999 it was suggested to him that he get involved in a property transaction with Mr Lowry.

He said this was the case even though two years earlier his name had ended up in the newspapers merely because he'd supplied the former minister with a free mobile phone.

The money for the deal, £300,000 sterling, came from a London account belonging to Mr O'Brien.

Mr Phelan said Mr O'Brien had no knowledge of two property transactions Mr Phelan got involved in with Mr Lowry in 1999.

The £300,000 for the first deal came from an account of Mr O'Brien's but was money which Mr Phelan said was an advance on a success fee. The second deal involved a loan for £420,000 sterling which he, Mr Phelan, ended up repaying.

The bank which supplied the loan, Investec Bank, formerly GE Capital Woodchester, suspected Mr O'Brien might be behind the transaction the loan funded.

Mr Phelan said a bank memo of a meeting held on February 28th, 2001, was mistaken when it recorded him saying the loan was in relation to a "Denis O'Brien transaction and he would ensure the bank would be looked after".

Mr John Coughlan SC said Mr Phelan was suggesting the bank had approached the Central Bank and the Moriarty tribunals on the basis of concerns which were formed in error.

Mr Phelan said he became involved in a property transaction with Mr Lowry in March 1999 involving a property in Mansfield, England. A joint venture agreement was signed by the two men the following month.

The property has not been sold and the joint venture agreement is still in place. The Investec loan was negotiated in December 1999. At the time Mr Lowry placed a deposit on a property in Cheadle, England, using money left over from the Mansfield deal and which belonged to Mr Phelan. The money, £44,500 sterling, was lent by him to Mr Lowry.

A letter was produced indicating Mr Phelan was guarantor to Mr Lowry for the Cheadle loan. Mr Phelan said he agreed this was an interpretation which could be put on the letter from him to Mr Lowry, but it was not what he'd intended to convey.

While discussing Mr O'Brien's affairs it emerged during the 1990s Mr O'Brien made use of Anglo-Irish Bank. Mr Coughlan said this had not been disclosed to the 1997 investigated into Mr O'Brien's affairs at the time of the Esat Telecom IPO.

Mr Phelan said he was not certain if Mr O'Brien had dealings with the bank in 1997. Mr Phelan told the tribunal an Irish businessman, Mr Kevin Phelan, from Omagh, had introduced the Mansfield and Cheadle properties to him and Mr Lowry.

He said Mr Phelan had also introduced a Luton property to him which was bought by Mr O'Brien. The same man from Omagh introduced the deal over Doncaster Rovers, whose stadium was bought by Mr O'Brien.

Mr Phelan said he was now in dispute with Mr Kevin Phelan, who is no relation, in connection with fees which Mr Kevin Phelan says he is owed.