Former Esat Digifone chief executive Mr Barry Maloney has denied the board had its "eyes wide shut" in not revealing to the tribunal a possible £100,000 payment by Mr Denis O'Brien to Mr Michael Lowry.
Mr Maloney also rejected yesterday that a press statement, described as "jesuitical", which denied the company held records of a £50,000 payment to Fine Gael was incorrect.
Mr Maloney said he raised with the Esat Digifone board and shareholders Mr O'Brien's conversations with him in 1996, that he had made a £100,000 payment to Mr Lowry, and in 1997 that he had not made the payment.
Mr Maloney said he passed the matter on to the board which had laid the facts out and he did not pursue the matter. When the Moriarty tribunal was set up in September 1997 no board member suggested the matter should be examined, he said. If asked for any proof of the payment to the then minister for communications in 1996, the answer was always "no".
Mr Maloney added he remained concerned to the present day about Mr O'Brien's statements to him that an intermediary existed with regard to the payment, although this emerged to be Woodchester Bank. He agreed with counsel for the tribunal, Mr Jerry Healy SC, that if a third party had cropped up, it could have undermined the company.
There were between 500 and 600 people working for the company and their interests and the interests of the customers and shareholder had to be balanced, Mr Maloney added.
Under cross-examination from counsel for Mr O'Brien, Mr Maloney agreed his earlier evidence that Mr O'Brien told him on two consecutive Mondays in August 1997 that he had not made the payment to Mr Lowry may have been wrong. Mr Eoin McGonigal SC said according to Mr O'Brien's diary both he and Mr Maloney were away for some Mondays during August and the first Monday was a bank holiday. While Mr Maloney said one of the meetings could have been held during July, he denied Mr O'Brien's evidence that he and not Mr O'Brien raised the issue of the payment.
In 1997 the issue of Esat Digifone's reimbursement of a $50,000 payment by Esat Digifone to Telenor, meant for Fine Gael, was also raised at meetings of the directors. At the time Mr Maloney said for tax reasons the payment, incorrectly classified as a payment for consultancy fees, should be changed to reflect its true purpose as a political donation. However, the term for the payment was not changed until this year.
Last March, in response to press queries, Esat Digifone prepared a statement which said no record was ever held documenting the reimbursement of $50,000 to Telenor for a contribution to Fine Gael.
Mr Maloney said he agreed the statement was "splitting hairs" and was "jesuitical", but it was not incorrect at the time as the payment was still classified as for consultancy fees.