The Moriarty Tribunal has heard that a solicitor for Michael Lowry was recorded as saying the former minister 'paid off’ a businessman.
However, Mr Lowry's lawyers said the £65,000 payment were fees for a property deal in England and rejected any connection to a blackmail plot.
The Moriarty Tribunal is investigating the awarding of the second mobile phone licence to Denis O'Brien by then Communications Minister Michael Lowry in 1996.
It is also trying to establish whether Mr Lowry was involved in Mr O'Brien's purchase of Doncaster Rovers Football Club in 1998 for €6.4m.
Mr Lowry has always denied any involvement.
His solicitor in England, Christopher Vaughan, said he was mistaken when he referred to Mr Lowry as being involved in the deal in a letter he wrote to Irish businessman Kevin Phelan.
Mr Lowry paid Mr Phelan a total of £65,000 sterling in early 2002.
However, Mr Lowry says the money was legitimate fees and expenses concerning a property deal in Wigan.
In October 2002, Mr Vaughan was recorded as telling another solicitor that Mr Phelan had been paid off and described him as a total crook.
He told the other solicitor Kate Macmillan that Mr Phelan orchestrates everything and tells different things to different people.
The other solicitor Kate Macmillan was acting for Denis O'Brien senior who had made a police complaint alleging he was being blackmailed by the owners of Doncaster Rovers.
