Mr Denis O'Brien's company, Esat Telecom Holdings, had to borrow money from Mr Dermot Desmond to pay its part of the licence fee for the State's second mobile phone licence.
The licence cost £15 million, and the three shareholders in the Esat Digifone consortium had to pay for the licence pro-rata to their shareholdings. The shareholdings were: 40 per cent, 40 per cent and 20 per cent, with Mr Desmond's IIU Ltd holding the 20 per cent. The third shareholder was Norwegian firm Telenor.
Esat Telecom borrowed £6 million from IIU on May 16th, 1996, so it could fund its part of the licence fee. The licence was awarded and paid for on the same date, May 16th, 1996.
Esat Telecom also borrowed a further £1.375 million so it could purchase 2.5 per cent of Esat Digifone from IIU on the same day. Telenor also bought 2.5 per cent from IIU, reducing IIU's shareholding from 25 per cent to 20 per cent.
In the period leading up to the licence being awarded there was a number of meetings between Department officials and representatives of the consortium concerning what would be said at a press conference to be held on the date the licence was issued.
No notes were found in the Department's files in relation to these meetings, and the Department did not inform the tribunal about these meetings, said Mr John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal.
Nor was any note found in the Department's files concerning a telephone conversation between Mr O'Brien and the then minister, Mr Michael Lowry, on May 13th, 1995, during which they discussed the negotiations for the licence.
On May 15th Ms Eileen Gleeson, a public relations executive working for Mr O'Brien, send a draft press release and a list of questions likely to be asked at the press conference to Mr Owen O'Connell, a solicitor with William Fry solicitors, who worked for Esat Digifone.
She said there would have to be a practice session for the press conference, to ensure that everyone was "on the same line".
On the morning of May 16th Mr O'Connell attended a "dress rehearsal" for the press conference in the Department, Mr Coughlan said, and from a note he took at the time it seemed Mr O'Brien was also present.
