Documents mentioning Michael Lowry in connection with Doncaster Rovers Football Club Ltd (DRFC) had "an unhappy tendency to crop up from time to time", the chairman of the tribunal said yesterday.
Mr Justice Michael Moriarty made the comment during the second day of evidence from Denis O'Brien concerning the Doncaster matter. The tribunal is inquiring into whether Mr Lowry, a former minister, had any connection with DRFC.
The tribunal has been told by Mr Lowry that he had no involvement in the matter. Mr O'Brien has said his Isle of Man family trust bought the football club in August 1998 because of the commercial potential of developing the football stadium in Doncaster. He has said the documentation in relation to the deal has been shown to the tribunal and proves that the trust is the 100 per cent owner of the club.
Mr O'Brien's counsel, Eoin McGonigal SC, was referring to this and to the tribunal's focus on other "bits of documents" that mentioned Mr Lowry, when Mr Justice Moriarty made his comment.
Mr O'Brien said it was his view that the Doncaster inquiry had been a waste of time and money and was based on "tenuous" evidence. "There is nothing to show Michael Lowry having equity interest in Doncaster Rovers," he said.
Mr Justice Moriarty asked if Mr O'Brien believed there was "any possibility of Michael Lowry being involved at a very early stage, before your involvement".
Mr O'Brien said he was certain Mr Lowry was not involved in the Doncaster transaction.
Tribunal counsel John Coughlan SC said the tribunal was seeking to identify how in "six instances" there were references in documents to Mr Lowry having an involvement in Doncaster Rovers.
"Can you assist the tribunal on how these continuous references arise in documents, in some instances emanating from your own solicitor?"
Mr Coughlan said Mr O'Brien's English solicitor Christopher Vaughan had written a letter to Mr Lowry in September 1998 in which he referred to Mr Lowry's "total involvement" in Doncaster.
Mr O'Brien said he believed he had never asked Mr Vaughan about the letter but he had asked him to come to Dublin to give evidence to the tribunal.
Mr Vaughan has not come to give evidence.
Mr Coughlan said that in a draft letter from Mr Vaughan to one of the trustees of Mr O'Brien's family trust, Mr Vaughan had written about the September 1998 letter: "I do not think I misunderstood his [ Mr Lowry's] comments to me that he was involved in DRFC but in hindsight I must put it down to some sort of political ego that he was trying to attach his name to what would appear to be a successful venture."
Mr O'Brien agreed that Mr Vaughan appeared to be saying that Mr Lowry had represented to him that he had an involvement in Doncaster Rovers Football Club. "It's clear that he made a mistake and then he corrected it," Mr O'Brien said.
In another draft of the letter, Mr Vaughan wrote to the trustee: "I am also sure that Kevin [ Phelan] made representations to me to the effect that Michael Lowry was also involved in Glebe Trust."
Mr Phelan is a Northern Ireland businessman who had initiated negotiations on the purchase of DRFC prior to Mr O'Brien becoming involved. Mr Phelan had used a trust called the Glebe Trust, the tribunal heard.
Mr O'Brien said it was his view that a reference to an "ML" in relation to DRFC in a fax from Mr Phelan was a reference to a British businessman Mick Lloyd and not Mr Lowry. Mr Coughlan said Mr O'Brien's solicitor William Fry had conducted inquiries when this fax first came to their attention. Mr O'Brien said he did not recall being asked about the reference by William Fry.