DCC has been accused of lobbying the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) to end an enquiry being conducted by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) into alleged insider dealing, a Dublin Court heard yesterday.

DCC plc started a campaign in 2002, it was claimed, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the Investment Bank of Ireland (IBI), and William Fry solicitors all acted as advisers to DCC as it sought to undermine the ISE as a potential witness in any criminal prosecution brought against DCC.

The court heard that in October 2002 Tom Healy, chief executive of the ISE, met Donal O'Connor of PwC and Peter Crowley of IBI, to discuss the insider trading case.

A note kept by O'Connor recorded Healy as saying he would be happy to see "the whole issue go away."

Healy also "confirmed that if he received information from DCC which now led him to the view that the 'information' was not price sensitive, he would pass this conclusion to the DPP".

Material from a series of memos written by people acting for DCC during the 2002 to 2004 period, and detailing its contacts with the Exchange, was disclosed in the Supreme Court yesterday.

The irish Times reportes that one memorandum written by DCC chief executive Jim Flavin in May 2003 details a conversation that month between Healy and Brian Davy, chairman of Davy Stockbrokers and deputy chairman of the Stock Exchange. Davy asked Healy's opinion of reports that were shown to Healy by DCC.

Fyffes is taking a civil action in the High Court alleging insider trading by DCC and Flavin, DCC's chief executive and non-executive director of Fyffes at the time of the share sale. Should Fyffes win, it could get the entire profit made by DCC from the share sale of its stake in Fyffes in February 2000 for €106 million. Flavin and DCC reject the allegation.

Fyffes is seeking to overturn an earlier High Court decision refusing it access to certain expert reports prepared by DCC and given by DCC to the Stock Exchange and the DPP. The Supreme Court has reserved its decision.