Sir Anthony O'Reilly may be called as a witness in a perjury case against Mr James Zimmerman, former head of Federated Department Stores, which owns Macy's and Bloomingdales.

Mr Zimmerman was indicted by a New York grand jury on Tuesday on a charge of denying under oath that he tried to persuade Sir Anthony, as chairman of Waterford Wedgwood, not to sell Waterford products through a rival retailer, Bed Bath & Beyond. A spokesman for New York attorney-general Mr Eliot Spitzer refused to comment yesterday on whether Sir Anthony would be called as a witness.

However, the case largely rests on Mr Zimmerman's assertion that he never discussed Bed Bath & Beyond with Sir Anthony to dissuade him from selling Waterford products to the chain store, or to pull out of negotiations to do so.

The indictment states that "in truth and fact, as the defendant well knew, said testimony was false". In an interview under oath on April 9th, Mr Zimmerman denied six times that he discussed Bed Bath & Beyond with Sir Anthony, according to court documents. Mr Spitzer alleges that Federated, along with May Department Stores, conspired in 2001 to pressurise Waterford Wedgwood to stop selling its tableware at Bed Bath & Beyond to keep it from expanding into that lucrative market.

During Tuesday's arraignment an assistant attorney-general told the judge that a letter from Federated to Sir Anthony, which Mr Spitzer's office has obtained, inferred clearly "that a deal went down", and that the letter thanked Waterford "for its cooperation".

The investigation has already led to a settlement under which Federated paid $900,000 (€678,646) for allegedly putting pressure on Waterford Wedgwood, and Waterford paid $500,000 for allegedly dropping its sales at Bed Bath & Beyond, though neither company admitted the charges. Mr Zimmerman said his client did not recall talking to Sir Anthony.