Analysis: It is not an "incontrovertible fact" that Michael Lowry had no involvement in the Doncaster Rovers Football Club Ltd (DRFC) transaction, the Moriarty tribunal has told the High Court.
Responding to an affidavit from Denis O'Brien, the tribunal, in an affidavit, said that "on the contrary, there is significant evidence to suggest he was so involved".
The tribunal outlined in detail the extent of the work it has carried out in private into the whole DRFC issue and made plain its frustration with the responses it has been receiving to requests for information.
The tribunal complained that it has not received a narrative statement from a London solicitor, Ruth Collard, though one had been promised. Nor has it received a narrative statement on the issue from Mr O'Brien, or from his father, Denis O'Brien snr, who in recent years has been closely involved in the matter.
In Mr O'Brien senior's case, the tribunal said a statement had been promised as far back as December 2003. One of the central figures in the whole affair, English solicitor Christopher Vaughan, has refused to come to Dublin to give evidence. He acted for the purchaser of DRFC, which was bought for approximately £4 million sterling in 1998. Documents given to the tribunal show the property was bought by an O'Brien family trust, based in the Isle of Man. Some members of the tribunal's legal team travelled to London to interview Mr Vaughan on September 9th, 2004.
The tribunal pointed out that on September 15th, 2004, Eoin McGonigal SC, for Mr O'Brien, complained during a public sitting of the tribunal that "nobody was alerted to this meeting. Nobody else was invited to this meeting." However, the tribunal told the High Court it was not the case that Mr O'Brien had not known in advance about the London meeting.
A letter from Mr Vaughan to Mr O'Brien's solicitors, William Fry, of Dublin, was quoted by the tribunal in its affidavit. The penultimate paragraph reads: "Your client, Denis O'Brien, spoke to me personally on the telephone prior to attending before the tribunal in London, and said that any bill should be sent to him, together with that of Duncan Needham, my solicitor."
In fact the tribunal had agreed that it would meet the costs incurred by Mr Vaughan, the tribunal said. It also said that Mr Vaughan had kept an employee of Mr O'Brien's, John Ryall, alerted by fax as to his dealings with the tribunal. At one stage, Mr Vaughan sought Mr Ryall's comments on a proposed letter to the tribunal.
The tribunal said Mr O'Brien, in his case to the High Court, is placing considerable reliance on the fact that Mr Vaughan will not be available to give evidence "and yet has failed to provide a detailed explanation of his relationship with (certain individuals) and in particular whether Mr Vaughan continues to act as solicitor on his behalf".
The Doncaster deal was introduced to the purchaser by Northern Ireland based businessman, Kevin Phelan, who is also refusing to give evidence. Mr Phelan introduced other UK properties examined by the tribunal and about which it is accepted Mr Lowry has an interest.
