O'Brien adviser denies Lowry involved in football club deal

An accountant and former adviser to telecoms tycoon Denis O'Brien has said it was "preposterous" to suggest that former minister Michael Lowry was involved in a deal to buy and redevelop the grounds of Doncaster Rovers Football Club in the north of England.

However, giving evidence at the Moriarty tribunal yesterday, Aidan Phelan said that Mr Lowry had been given some documentation about the deal by a solicitor in Britain.

He said that the solicitor, Christopher Vaughan, had told him that Mr Lowry had given the impression that he was involved in the Doncaster project.

Mr Vaughan had acted for the former minister in a number of other business transactions in Britain.

Mr Phelan said Mr Vaughan had told the former minister that he was trying to set up a meeting with him (Mr Phelan).

"Mr Lowry said to Mr Vaughan, 'give me the outstanding stuff and I will progress it', or something to that effect," Mr Phelan said.

He had been approached initially in 1998 about the Doncaster project by a man called Kevin Phelan.

He said the local authority in Doncaster had wanted the football club to move to a new site on health and safety grounds. This would have allowed the existing stadium to be redeveloped for retail.

Mr Phelan said Mr O'Brien had been interested in the deal.

He said that once the transaction went through, Mr O'Brien was the only beneficial owner of the ground.

However, he said Kevin Phelan would have been entitled to 40 per cent of the profits from any successful redevelopment.

Mr Phelan said that in 2002 he had been contacted by Mr O'Brien's father, Denis snr, about a letter which appeared to link Mr Lowry to the Doncaster development deal.

"Mr O'Brien snr told me that he had this letter which said that Michael Lowry had been involved.

"I said to him that this was wrong and I told him that I would ring Christopher Vaughan, the solicitor who had written the letter," Mr Phelan stated.

He said that Mr Vaughan had told him that he had written "in error" about the involvement of Mr Lowry.

Mr Phelan said that Mr Vaughan had erroneously formed the view that the former minister had been involved after the two men had travelled together on a car journey in England.