O’Brien: ‘I never bribed Lowry. I never paid any minister. I never bribed anybody’

BUSINESSMAN Denis O’Brien yesterday told the High Court that he never bribed former Communications Minister Michael Lowry or any politician.

Mr O’Brien was facing cross-examination on the second day of his libel action against Mirror Group of Newspapers over an article in the Irish Mirror in 1998.

“I have never paid Michael Lowry. I never paid any minister. I never bribed anybody,” Mr O’Brien told the High Court. He said he had read the newspapers about Mr Lowry’s difficulties. “He was being slated left, right and centre. I said that person is in difficulty. Should I financially help him or not? It was a fleeting thought. I didn’t,” he said.