Lowry to resume evidence to Moriarty Tribunal

Former government minister Michael Lowry is expected to face further questioning at the Moriarty Tribunal later today.

The tribunal is currently examining a loan Mr Lowry received from the late Fine Gael fundraiser, David Austin, in 1996.

Lawyers have discovered that the £147,000 loan started its journey in a Dutch company controlled by multi-millionaire businessman Denis O’Brien. It then passed through three offshore accounts before being lodged in Mr Lowry’s bank in the Isle of Man.

Mr O’Brien has said he gave the money to Mr Austin as payment for a house and was not aware that Mr Austin passed it on to Mr Lowry.

For his part, Mr Lowry has also insisted that the loan was legitimate and said it was merely a coincidence that the £147,000 came from Mr O’Brien.

However, tribunal lawyers aren’t fully convinced. Mr Lowry secured the loan just months after he, as Minister for Communications, had awarded Ireland’s lucrative second mobile phone licence to ESAT, which belonged to Denis O’Brien at the time.

The loan was also repaid to Mr Austin on the very same day that the Government established the McCracken tribunal to investigate political corruption.