Michael Lowry is expected to contradict evidence given at the Moriarty Tribunal by the bank official who gave out a controversial loan linking him to Denis O'Brien. Michael Tunney, of Woodchester Bank, claims that he was shocked when he discovered that the money was for Mr Lowry. However, the politician's lawyers said today that Mr Tunney dealt directly with their client.
Four days into their examination of this £0.5m loan the Tribunal has almost as many explanations as it has witnesses. At the centre of this tangle is Michael Tunney the man who gave out the money. He said that as he was concerned neither Michael Lowry nor Denis O'Brien had anything to do with this loan. However, no less than six witnesses have contradicted him.
Michael Tunney said that he was shocked when he discovered that Michael Lowry was involved. However, Michael Lowry's lawyers say that he dealt with the politician directly. Two other witnesses support this version. So what about Denis O'Brien? Three of Michael Tunney's colleagues said that he told then that "Denis was behind the loan".
Mr Tunney said that they should have known that he was speaking in a global sense. In that case he was asked, why did he not set them straight before they went to the Tribunal? Would not that have been music to their ears? Tribunal lawyers said that a lot of people who had been ready to use Denis O'Brien's name in connection with this loan in the past, seemed very anxious to distance themselves from that now.
