Tribunal chairman Mr Justice Michael Moriarty said it was unlikely, as matters stood, that he would find that Michael Lowry was connected to a British Virgin Islands trust that has been mentioned in evidence.
Mr Lowry complained that media coverage of the tribunal meant that his friends and business associates now believed he had an association with the Glebe Trust, a British Virgin Islands trust set up by Northern Ireland businessman Kevin Phelan and which was involved in the Doncaster transaction.
"It looked as though I was actively involved and that effectively Glebe Trust was a holding area for me to acquire some funds for something or other."
The tribunal has heard that Mr Phelan was entitled at one stage to 40 per cent of any profit that might arise from the Doncaster property transaction being inquired into by the tribunal. An English solicitor, Christopher Vaughan, has said in correspondence that he was told by Mr Phelan that Mr Lowry had an interest in the trust. Both Mr Vaughan and Mr Phelan are refusing to come to give evidence.
Jerry Healy SC, for the tribunal, quoted from a letter from Charterhouse, an Isle of Man company that acted for the trust. In the letter the company said it could state, categorically, "that Michael Lowry has not at any stage had any connection whether as settlor, trustee or beneficiary, with the Glebe Trust".
The authors of the letter said they had been given permission to write it and also that they could confirm the facts stated were correct. They said they would not be replying to any further inquiries from the tribunal.
Mr Lowry said the content of the letter was "clear and unequivocal" and complained that he had not been told of the letter's existence when he was being questioned on Tuesday by Mr Healy about the trust.
Addressing the chairman, he said it had happened before that questions were put about the supposed acceleration of the GSM licence competition when the tribunal had in its files an agreement which set out a timescale for the completion of the process and which had been agreed at the time.
Mr Justice Moriarty said it was his "paramount duty" to be fair. He said inquiries concerning the Glebe Trust seemed to have reached an impasse and it was "highly improbable that in the absence of positive evidence I will be making any suppositions against your interest".
