Reference to Lowry was in error, says solicitor

An English solicitor who wrote a letter to Mr Michael Lowry in 1998 while under the impression that Mr Lowry was involved in a £4 million property deal in Doncaster has told the tribunal he wrote the letter in error.

Mr Christopher Vaughan held a private meeting with the tribunal's legal team last week but has not yet acceded to requests that he attend to give evidence in public, Mr Jerry Healy SC, for the tribunal, said in an opening statement concerning the Doncaster matter.

Following a report in The Irish Times in January 2003, disclosing the existence of the 1998 letter, Mr Vaughan was written to by the tribunal and asked a number of questions.

He replied in March 2003 in a lengthy letter in which he set out his version of how he came to write the 1998 letter, which Mr Healy read into the record.

Mr Vaughan said in the letter that he had a meeting with businessman Mr Kevin Phelan and Mr Lowry in September 1998 during which they discussed a property in Mansfield that was being purchased by Mr Lowry.

The conversation then moved on to the purchase of the Doncaster grounds, a deal in which Mr Phelan and Mr Vaughan were also involved. The conversation took place in the company of Mr Lowry.

"Michael Lowry was present throughout the whole of those discussions and I formed what I subsequently discovered to be a totally incorrect view, that because of the frank manner in which Kevin Phelan was discussing the outstanding issues relating to Doncaster, Michael Lowry was somehow involved in the Doncaster project."

The following day Mr Vaughan and Mr Lowry travelled in Mr Vaughan's car to a hospital in Leicester where Mr Lowry had an appointment. During their conversation the topic of Doncaster was again raised. Mr Vaughan said he believed Mr Lowry offered to help resolve some difficulties outstanding from the deal and to try arrange a meeting with Mr Aidan Phelan, an accountant and associate of Mr Denis O'Brien, who was involved in managing the Doncaster deal.

On his return to his office, Mr Vaughan composed a letter in which he referred to Mr Lowry's involvement in the Doncaster deal. When discussing matters with Mr Kevin Phelan the following Monday, Mr Vaughan mentioned the letter he had drafted for sending to Mr Lowry. Mr Phelan then informed Mr Vaughan that Mr Lowry had no involvement with the Doncaster deal, Mr Vaughan said.

Mr Vaughan wrote that: "In hindsight it does seem unusual that I believed Michael Lowry to be involved in Doncaster, as throughout the whole of the discussions and negotiations relating to the acquisition of Doncaster over a period of some nine months, I never heard Michael Lowry's name being mentioned."

Mr Healy said the tribunal would also be inquiring into what prompted Mr Lowry's accountant, Mr Denis O'Connor, to become involved in the Doncaster transaction and whose interests he was representing when he did so.