ODCE papers sought by PR firm Red Flag

A PUBLIC relations firm being sued for defamation and conspiracy by businessman Denis O’Brien said legal papers related to the corporate governance investigation at Independent News & Media (INM) could have a bearing on the case.

Red Flag Consulting is one of a number of parties to have applied to the High Court for access to an affidavit filed by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) in support of its application for the appointment of inspectors to INM.

Two of its staff, chief executive Karl Brophy and executive office manager Mandy Scott, are mentioned in the affidavit, filed by ODCE director Ian Drennan.

They appear on a list of 19 “persons of interest” who it is feared had their names searched for during an “interrogation” of data taken from a back-up to INM’s computer servers.

The President of the High Court, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, will consider next Tuesday whether Red Flag and other applicants can access the affidavit.

During a costs and directions hearing in the Red Flag case yesterday, the PR firm’s counsel William Abrahamson BL said: “While we don’t know for sure, we consider that there is a significant possibility that the material we may obtain from those proceedings will have a bearing on the defence or the amended defence we will wish to plead in these proceedings.”

INM has said data was provided to a third-party service provider in 2014 on the instruction of former chairman Leslie Buckley.

In his affidavit, Mr Drennan alleges an Isle of Man com-

pany owned by Mr O’Brien discharged invoices associated with the so-called data interrogation. Mr O’Brien is INM’s largest shareholder and a close business associate of Mr Buckley. Mr Buckley has pledged to defend his position, while Mr O’Brien has yet to comment.

Mr O’Brien is suing Red Flag, Mr Brophy, the firm’s chairman Gavin O’Reilly, and three other executives for defamation and conspiracy in relation to the creation and circulation of a dossier about the businessman. The claims are denied by the defendants.

Last month, Mr O’Brien succeeded in an application to have rival businessman Declan Ganley added to the case as a defendant.

The application came after former Fianna Fáil TD Colm Keaveney swore an affidavit saying it was his belief Mr Ganley was the Red Flag client who commissioned the dossier. Mr Ganley denies being the client.

Mr Abrahamson’s comments came at a hearing yesterday before Ms Justice Miriam O’Regan. The judge agreed with Mr O’Brien’s counsel Frank Beatty SC that whether there was anything of relevance to the Red Flag case in the ODCE court papers was a matter of conjecture.

“Nevertheless I would be loath to force Red Flag or Mr Ganley to put in a defence which would later require amendments because those documents may well be relevant. I just don’t know,” she said.

The judge said the Red Flag case dated to 2015 and there was no serious urgency involved. She agreed to adjust the timeline of the case to facilitate Red Flag should anything of relevance emerge in the ODCE papers.