The first meeting held to discuss the terms of the licence for Esat Digifone was not told the make-up of the consortium had changed since its bid had been submitted.
The tribunal heard that after Digifone won the right to enter exclusive negotiations, discussions began over the make-up of the licence.
According to a note of the initial meeting on November 9th, 1995, kept by Mr Sean McMahon, a civil servant, a document prepared by Danish consultant Mr Michael Andersen was gone through. The document included mention of the fact that the licence would contain specific conditions for Digifone's financial arrangements.
The bid, which had won the right to exclusive negotiations for Digifone, had said the consortium would be 40 per cent owned by Mr O'Brien's Communicorp group; 40 per cent owned by Norwegian company Telenor; and 20 per cent owned by financial institutions. Also, one of these institutions, international venture capital group Advent, was to underwrite Communicorp's involvement.
By November, the two main partners were to each have a 37.5 per cent shareholding while the remaining 25 per cent was to be held by IIU Ltd, on behalf of Mr Dermot Desmond. Furthermore Advent had been replaced as underwriters to Communicorp by IIU. The Department of Transport was not told this at the meeting.
