HARRISBURG — Testimony was suspended today on the fourth day of the public corruption trial of former state Rep. Mike Veon after defense attorneys contended a key witness falsely described his earlier statements and prosecutors may have known it.

The judge ordered a two-hour delay so he could review what had been said both in court and elsewhere by prosecution witness Mike Manzo, a former top House Democratic aide who has pleaded guilty in the case.

The issue concerns a letter sent by prosecutors to defense lawyers last month, telling them Manzo had only recently related conversations with Veon about giving employees bonuses for campaign work, as well as other new revelations.

On the stand, Manzo said he could not remember when he first told authorities about those discussions with Veon but said that it was not during pretrial preparation, as the Jan. 10 letter indicates.

"I've had a lot of conversations with the attorney general's office. I don't remember which meeting or which conversation," Manzo said.

Veon lawyer Dan Raynak told Dauphin County Judge Richard Lewis that prosecutors knew Manzo may have lied to the jury.

"The best scenario they can claim is he is mistaken," Raynak said.

Manzo's claim about the discussions with Veon is potentially very damaging to Veon because it implicates him more directly than e-mails that prosecutors have shown to the jury. Defense attorneys said it also went beyond what Manzo said during multiple grand jury appearances and in the notes of debriefings by prosecutors and investigators.

Veon attorney Joel Sansone asked Lewis to review the matter and said a mistrial might be warranted.