Analysis: The Doncaster property deal is different to earlier modules becuase of its scale, writes Colm Keena.
The tribunal has opened a new module which will examine whether Michael Lowry had an involvement in a stg £4.3 million property deal in Doncaster in 1998 that was funded by Denis O'Brien.
While the issue is just one of a number of issues concerning Mr Lowry and Mr O'Brien which have been examined to date, it may have serious implications for all that has gone before.
The tribunal has already looked at two property deals in England in the late 1990s with which Mr Lowry acknowledges his involvement but with which Mr O'Brien has said he had no involvement. These deals were of a much lower value.
The Doncaster deal is different because of its scale, because Mr O'Brien has said it is exclusively his, and because Mr Lowry has said he had nothing to do with it.
One document revealed yesterday implicitly claims that all the English property deals, including Doncaster, involved both Mr O'Brien and Mr Lowry.
However the document was produced in the context of a dispute and by a Northern Ireland businessman Kevin Phelan, who has not agreed to come to Dublin to give evidence.
By the end of yesterday's opening statement, six instances had been noted of Mr Lowry being named in documents concerning the Doncaster deal, a deal with which he and Mr O'Brien have said he had no involvement.
One of the documents was a 2002 attendance by solicitor Ruth Collard, a partner with Carter Ruck solicitors, London. The firm is considered one of the best defamation firms in England.
Ms Collard has acted in a number of high-profile cases, including that of Ben Elliot, a businessman and nephew of Camilla Parker Bowles, who was falsely alleged to have been photographed naked on a beach with Jade Jagger.
Another document is a letter from English solicitor Christopher Vaughan to Mr Lowry, in which Mr Vaughan, who acted in the Doncaster purchase, referred to Mr Lowry's involvement in the Doncaster deal. He has since said he wrote the letter in error.
The fact that two solicitors, with no reason to set out to injure Mr Lowry or Mr O'Brien, had noted an involvement of Mr Lowry with Doncaster, has influenced the tribunal to hold the public session.
Mr Vaughan has in the past refused to come to Dublin to give evidence but tribunal barrister Jerry Healy SC, said he was now "minded" to do so. Ms Collard was also expected to give evidence, he said.
The deal being examined involved the purchase of Doncaster Rovers Football Club (DRFC) Ltd, a company that had a lease on the former Doncaster stadium Belle Vue. The football club was to be moved to a new ground and the old stadium, which is in the middle of Doncaster, would be redeveloped.
The commercial potential for the deal was noted by Kevin Phelan and Dublin accountant Aidan Phelan (no relation), fronted for the purchaser. Aidan Phelan was at the time an adviser to Mr O'Brien.
After the two Phelans had fallen out, Kevin Phelan wrote to the Institute of Chartered Accountants complaining about non-payment of fees. It is that letter which implied that Aidan Phelan was acting as agent for "Denis O'Brien and another" in relation to all the deals being investigated by the tribunal, including Doncaster and deals with which Mr Lowry has an acknowledged involvement.
The tribunal's private inquiries into the Doncaster issue began after a report in The Irish Times in January 2003, which disclosed the existence of the Vaughan letter mentioned above.
The matter was to be the subject of public hearings in 2004 but Mr O'Brien took a High Court challenge. When that was unsuccessful he appealed to the Supreme Court, but he lost there again.
When the tribunal resumed again yesterday, Mr Healy said some new information had come to the tribunal's attention during or as a result of these challenges.
This information included a letter written in October 2002 by Mr Vaughan to a man in the Isle of Man acting for Westferry, the company that purchased DRFC.
In the letter Mr Vaughan said Westferry was initially owned by a trust, called the Glebe trust, which belonged to Kevin Phelan and that Mr Phelan had told him that Mr Lowry was also involved in the trust.
The fifth document which seems to link Mr Lowry to Doncaster is a fax sent by Kevin Phelan to Aidan Phelan in August 1999. Item seven on the fax referred to "ML. KP to refer all queries on Doncaster to AP."
Some years later when Westferry was settling the fees issue with Kevin Phelan, it sought a statement from him to the effect that the "ML" in the fax was not Mr Lowry.
The sixth mention of Mr Lowry is a 2000 letter from Kevin Phelan where he refers to discussions with Mr Lowry.