Austin loan note to Lowry shown

The executors of the estate of the late Mr David Austin knew nothing about an October 1996 payment of £147,000 to Mr Michael Lowry until told about it by the tribunal.

Mr Michael O'Leary, one of the estate's executors, also said nothing was found in Mr Austin's papers about the sale of a house in Spain in the summer of 1996. The tribunal has been told Mr O'Brien bought the house for £150,000.

A handwritten document was produced yesterday which was given to the tribunal by Mr Lowry. Mr O'Leary said it had not been in Mr Austin's papers. He said the bulk of the note was in Mr Austin's handwriting.

The page states that on October 18th, 1996, Mr Austin gave Mr Lowry a loan of £147,000 at a specified rate, to be repaid by October 18th, 2001, or on the sale of Mr Lowry's house on Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin, whichever came first.

The note is dated October 24th, 1996, and is signed by Mr Austin and Mr Lowry. Mr O'Leary said Mr Austin had been diagnosed as having cancer by October 1996. Asked by Ms Jacqueline O'Brien, for the tribunal, if Mr Austin would have thought in 1996 that he would still be alive in 2001, Mr O'Leary said: "It was quite clear to David in 1996 that he wouldn't be around for too long."

The tribunal heard that Mr Austin's wife and his accountants have said they knew nothing about the transaction between Mr Austin and Mr Lowry.

Mr O'Leary agreed with Mr Donal O'Donnell SC, for Mr Lowry, that as the money was repaid in 1997, the transaction would not have been relevant to the executors after Mr Austin's death in November 1998.

Mr Denis O'Connor, an accountant who has worked on Mr Lowry's personal finances since December 1996, said he had not seen the letter of acknowledgment signed by Mr Lowry and Mr Austin until shown it earlier this year by Mr Lowry.

He also said he had known nothing of the £147,000 transaction. Likewise, he had known nothing of two property deals in the UK in 1999 involving Mr Lowry and Mr Aidan Phelan, then a financial adviser to Mr Denis O'Brien. Mr O'Connor said he had known nothing of an invoice for £4,840 sent to Mr Lowry by Mr Phelan for professional services or how it had been paid.