Insurance company Quinn Direct says it can prove a document containing allegations of serious malpractice by the firm is a forgery.
In a statement, the company said it has asked the Garda to investigate the conduct of the Sunday Tribune, which first published the document purporting to come from a senior executive of Quinn Direct.
The insurer is already suing the Sunday Tribuneover the allegations that it made payments to claimants' solicitors in return for settling quickly and that it recruited serving gardaí to investigate and settle claims.
Yesterday, it repeated its assertion that the document is a forgery and said it had provided evidence of this to the Garda.
A spokesman said the firm wrote to the Sunday Tribuneafter it published the article earlier this month providing "nine clear reasons" why the memo was a forgery.
"After further investigation we have discovered that the electronic signature shown on the memo was only produced in our 2003 policy documents and did not exist in October 2001, the date of the purported memo," he said.
"We have again written to the Sunday Tribuneoutlining this in some detail and asking them to explain their conduct and accept that the memo is a forgery."
Last night, the editor of the Sunday Tribune, Noirín Hegarty, said she had just received Quinn Direct's statement and was unable to comment. Last week, in response to the company's initial denial of the allegations, she said the newspaper stood over its story.
The company also says it has asked the Data Protection Commissioner to accelerate an ongoing audit "in order to prove that our procedures are in line with best practice in the industry". This audit is expected to be completed within the next two weeks.
The commissioner is currently carrying out a review of the insurance industry with a view to drawing up a code of practice on data protection for the sector.
Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy has ordered an inquiry into the allegation, in particular the claim that serving gardaí were involved in the investigation of insurance claims on behalf of motor insurers.
Mr Conroy appointed assistant commissioner Eddie Rock to conduct the investigation and appealed to the public for information that might assist his work.
