Mr John Bruton TD was concerned that accepting a political donation on behalf of the winning consortium for the country’s second GSM licence could be misconstrued, the Moriarty tribunal heard today.
The former Taoiseach and Fine Gael party leader said in light of press comment he was concerned the donation could be misrepresented after Esat Digifone was awarded the licence.
However, Mr Bruton said he remained convinced the process by which the licence was granted "was immune from political influence" and the donation itself was "perfectly legal".
Mr Bruton said he was informed by a former party fund-raiser, the late Mr David Austin, there was the possibility of a donation on behalf of the winning consortium during a telephone conversation on February 24th, 1996.
He said Mr Austin was "very keen" that Fine Gael accept the money and that he may have referred to the donation as being in a bank account.
Mr Bruton assumed the money was still under the control of the donor because Mr Austin was never a Fine Gael trustee and never had signatory rights for party accounts.
Mr Austin had not been authorised to accept or solicit money on behalf of Fine Gael, Mr Bruton said.
Mr Bruton said he told Mr Austin to "leave it [donation] where it is". He said this phrase remained in his memory because he later realised its possible ambiguity.
It was the first time he turned down a donation, Mr Bruton said.
Mr Austin did not tell him that he subsequently sent a letter or issued an invoice to Telenor (an Esat shareholder), he added.
However, Mr Austin passed on the donation to Fine Gael anyway, disguised as a personal donation. "There appeared to have been something of a sleight of hand, was Mr Bruton's response" after Telenor brought news of the donation to the party to his attention.
"I instructed that the money was to be returned. I was upset that my wishes had been circumvented by a personal donation," said Mr Bruton.
