Lawyers for the Moriarty Tribunal told today of two letters they believe contradict much of the evidence presented to the tribunal over the past four years.
The tribunal heard the lawyers possessed two different versions of letters from British solicitor Mr Christopher Vaughan, dated July 12th and September 5th, 2001.
The second version of the letters were among a batch of four handed over to tribunal lawyers by Irish Timesjournalist Mr Colm Keena.
Mr Vaughan acted for the former Fine Gael chairman and Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Michael Lowry, and for accountant Mr Aidan Phelan, who acted for key Esat Telecom shareholder Mr Denis O’Brien.
It has now been established there are two separate versions of the letters.
The tribunal was told the "long form" of the letter, handed over by Mr Keena, contained information that potentially contradicted a quantity of evidence that had previously been presented to it.
The long version includes references to a series of property transactions involving Mr Lowry. These details were not in the shorter version that was submitted as evidence by Mr Vaughan.
Lawyers said they would have to consider whether this was a deliberate attempt to mislead the tribunal.
The tribunal, which last sat in public in November 2001, is sitting for just three days before breaking for the summer.