THE SUNDAY Timesnewspaper apologised before the High Court to former Hibernia Foods chairman and chief executive Oliver Murphy over an article which, he claimed, wrongly said he was engaged in securities fraud.

Mr Murphy, Anglesea Road, Dublin, brought defamation proceedings over an article published in the newspaper’s business section in February 2005 which, he alleged, contained material which wrongly meant he was not fit to be in charge of a public company and had committed a criminal offence.

The action was due to commence at the High Court yesterday but, following talks between the sides, Mr Justice Eamon de Valera and the jury were told it had been resolved.

As part of that settlement, an apology on behalf of The Sunday Timeswas read to the jury. It stated the newspaper had "published an article on February 20th 2005 entitled 'Fraud Trial over Hibernia Foods sham accounts' which referred to Mr Murphy the former chairman and CEO of Hibernia Foods Plc."

The newspaper said it “accepts that Mr Murphy behaved with complete honesty and propriety in respect of the affairs of Hibernia Foods”.

It added it also accepts “that any suggestion to the contrary was entirely incorrect and we apologise to Mr Murphy and his family for the hurt and distress caused to them by the article”.

In his action, Mr Murphy claimed the article had wrongly meant he was engaged in securities fraud, was responsible for recording false sales and misreporting inventories in the books of the NASDAQ-listed Hibernia Foods Plc, engaged in misleading account practices, and sold shares in the company to obtain a profit he was not entitled to.

He claimed the words used in the article were false and published maliciously, resulting in grave and severe injury to his reputation and character.

In its defence lodged with the court, The Sunday Timeshad denied the claims against it.