Mr Joseph Murphy snr will give evidence to the tribunal in the Channel Islands because, although he is willing to be a witness, he is not able to travel due to his medical condition, the tribunal was told.
Mr Murphy, the founder of JMSE, is a resident of Guernsey and is now in his 80s. Yesterday Mr Michael Cush SC, for the Murphy Group, said that Mr Murphy was available and willing to give evidence before the end of July.
"In terms of fixing it, there are medical issues involved, which do not prevent him giving evidence but do prevent him travelling," Mr Cush said. He would be making a formal application next week requesting that Mr Murphy's evidence be heard in Jersey.
Mr Murphy was in Dublin in January ready to give evidence. While he was here, he was hospitalised and had since gone home, Mr Cush said. His condition had not improved, but it did not prevent him giving evidence and he was anxious to do so.
The chairman said to Mr Cush: "If you would be kind enough to liaise with Mr Murphy's medical advisers and . . . we'll set that up. We want to co-operate with Mr Murphy in every possible way. When you're doing this, it would be helpful if you were to liaise with the tribunal as to what other people are affected because they will presumably have to travel if they want to participate in the commission."
Mr Cush said other JMSE witnesses would be available next week.
Ms Patricia Dillon SC, for the tribunal, said there was a problem over JMSE documents. "We received in excess of 30,000 [JMSE] documents which were not referenced to any particular company or individual within the Murphy Group," she said.
It was impossible that these documents would be ready on Monday. Therefore it was not possible to take any Murphy witnesses next week.