There is no note on the files of the former Department of Transport, Energy and Communications of a meeting held on May 3rd, 1996, at which senior members of the Esat Digifone consortium met leading officials, the tribunal heard.
Mr John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, on the seventh day of his opening statement, said a memo of the meeting by Mr Owen O'Connell, a senior solicitor with William Fry solicitors, had been given to the tribunal. Mr O'Connell was representing Esat Digifone.
The meeting discussed the ownership of the Digifone consortium and took place in the period between Digifone winning the licence competition and being awarded the licence. A key issue was the involvement of Mr Dermot Desmond's IIU Ltd.
At the meeting were Mr Knut Digerud, of Telenor, Mr Peter O'Donoghue of Esat Telecom, Mr Michael Walsh of IIU Ltd, and Mr Paul Connolly, as well as civil servants Mr Martin Brennan, Mr Fintan Towey and Ms Regina Finn. The top line on Mr O'Connell's memo was: "Clear a political football." Mr Coughlan said the Department did not tell the tribunal about the meeting and no record of it appeared on the Department's files.
The tribunal learned of the meeting because it was mentioned in a memo written in Oslo by Mr Arve Johannsen of Telenor.
Mr Johannsen wrote that it was clear from the meeting that IIU was "not a favourable name from an Irish public point of view".
Mr Coughlan said Mr Brennan had told the tribunal he could find no record of the meeting in the Department's files and that he had very little recollection of it. Neither Mr Towey nor Ms Finn had any recollection of the meeting.
Mr Johannsen's memo was written on May 4th, 1996, and was a review of aspects of the history of the Digifone consortium. It noted that in September 1995 Mr O'Brien, during a meeting in Oslo, said "very important sources" had said the Irish profile of the Digifone bid had to be increased and the consortium needed to get backers involved who would fight for the licence. It was in this regard that IIU was introduced.
There was no mention at the time that IIU would be underwriting Mr O'Brien's company, Communicorp, in relation to its financial responsibilities towards the consortium, although this emerged later. Mr Johannsen wrote that it was clear in hindsight that Communicorp's financial position had been improved at a cost to Telenor, which had to reduce its stake in Digifone so shares could be assigned to IIU.
The meeting in the Department had made it clear that IIU was not favourably viewed by the Irish public, Mr Johannsen wrote. He also wrote that IIU's involvement was complicating the awarding of the licence.
