Persona, the former consortium that has served notice it is to sue the State in a case that could involve huge damages, is now owned by Mr Tony Boyle and Mr Michael McGinley.
Mr Boyle owns 80 per cent of Persona and Mr McGinley owns the remaining 20 per cent, by way of their company Sigma Wireless.
The case, if won by Persona, has the potential to involve huge damages, with figures of up to €100 million having been mentioned.
The Persona consortium came second in the 1995 mobile phone licence competition, won by Esat Digifone. Mr Boyle has said Persona will sue the State for damages arising out of its running of the 1995 competition, irrespective of the findings of the Moriarty Tribunal in its ongoing inquiry into the competition.
The other former shareholders in the one-time consortium handed over their shareholdings in May 2001, according to the filings for Persona in the Companies Registration Office. A plenary summons was issued by Persona the following month.
It is understood the company was kept alive in the years following the 1995 competition because of the unhappiness of some shareholders with the outcome of the competition.
The Persona shares were handed over to Sigma for a nominal sum following a discussion concerning revelations in 2001 that led to the tribunal inquiring into the mobile phone licence competition. The initiation of the proceedings prevented the case becoming unactionable by way of the statute of limitations.
The tribunal's inquiry follows revelations concerning possible financial links between the former Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Michael Lowry, and the founder of Esat Digifone, Mr Denis O'Brien. Esat Digifone won the 1995 competition.
Persona is expected to seek huge damages if the case goes ahead.
Mr Boyle and Mr McGinley have both given evidence to the Moriarty tribunal concerning the licence competition, and lawyers representing Persona have been monitoring the tribunal.
Persona was established to contest the 1995 competition and Mr Boyle has said it spent £5 million on its bid.
It was regarded in the media at the time as the favourite and its members were angry and aggrieved in the wake of the announcement that the competition had been won by Esat Digifone.
A complaint was made to the European Union and contemplation given to seeking a judicial review of the process. However, the matter was then let rest until the 2001 revelations.
The Persona shareholders were: Motorola; Sigma Wireless; ESB Telecoms Ltd; and Unisource. They each held one share. Sigma is owned 80/20 by Mr Boyle and Mr McGinley.
In his evidence to the tribunal Mr Boyle said that, during a conversation at a racecourse in April 1995, Mr Dermot Desmond said he knew who Mr O'Brien would use to "get to" Mr Lowry.
Mr Desmond in his evidence said no such comment was ever made by him. He said Mr Boyle had failed in his bid for the licence, and was "eaten up with envy ever since. He is a bitter man".
Mr Boyle, in his evidence, agreed with counsel for Mr Desmond, Mr Bill Shipsey SC, that no written record of the alleged conversation existed prior to a written statement to the tribunal, dated September 2002.
Mr Boyle said it was his intention to proceed with the action against the State irrespective of the outcome of the tribunal's inquiries.
He told Mr Shipsey that his company had spent "several hundred thousand euro" on monitoring the tribunal's proceedings.
Sigma Wireless is a very successful technology group based in Finglas, Dublin, with a large turnover and more than 400 employees.
It exports its products to a number of countries around the globe.
