Denis O'Brien snr yesterday insisted that former government minister Michael Lowry had no involvement in the purchase of Doncaster Rovers Football Club.
Mr O'Brien snr was asked by his son, telecoms entrepreneur Denis O'Brien, to become involved in the controversial project in 2002 after two disputes arose over financial issues.
It was Mr O'Brien's fourth and final day giving evidence to the Moriarty tribunal as part of its inquiry into the purchase of the club for stg£4.3 million in 1998.
The tribunal has seen a fax referring to "ML" in documents relating to the Doncaster project.
Denis O'Brien jnr has always insisted that the Doncaster deal had no connection whatsoever with Mr Lowry.
Asked yesterday by Mr Lowry's barrister, Rossa Fanning, if the former Fine Gael politician had any financial interest in the Doncaster project, Mr O'Brien snr said: "None whatsoever."
Asked if it was ever intended that Mr Lowry would have a financial interest in the project in the future, he said: "Absolutely not."
Mr O'Brien also told John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, that he had no involvement in his son's unsuccessful legal attempt to stop the tribunal from investigating the Doncaster deal.
"I was never even consulted," he said, and he added that he might have been in the Middle East at the time. "I didn't even know it [the legal challenge] was taking place."
The tribunal's public hearings into the Doncaster deal were halted in 2004 when Denis O'Brien jnr took a High Court challenge, followed by an unsuccessful Supreme Court appeal.
Mr O'Brien also told the tribunal yesterday that he was determined to pursue a legal case against the sellers of the Doncaster club, whom he claimed had tried to blackmail him.
He had earlier told the tribunal that one of the vendors, Ken Richardson, had offered to sell his company and the files relating to the Doncaster deal to him for stg£2 million, plus £440,000 from a retention fund. He said Mr Richardson had hinted that a US phone company was interested in buying the files.
"Whatever happened, I was absolutely determined not to allow these people away with blackmail," he said.
Even if the police had decided against pursuing the case, he said, he had had every intention of taking legal action against the men.
