Off-shore bank cash payments

BUSINESSMAN Denis O’Brien paid former Communications Minister Michael Lowry £147,000 via two conduits which also involved off-shore cash transfers, the Moriarty Tribunal has found.

The complex passage of the money included claims that the cash was used by Mr O’Brien to pay now-deceased Smurfit executive David Austin for a holiday home in Marbella, while Mr Austin was also said to be involved in the loaning of money to Mr Lowry for the purchase of a house in Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, in Dublin.

The tribunal report claims the payment of the money from Mr O’Brien to Mr Lowry was “carefully planned and covert” and that there was “a deliberate concealment” on the part of both men regarding the transaction which included accountant Aidan Phelan.