Moriarty Tribunal: A Norwegian executive felt it was "far-fetched" when he was told in September/October 1995 that Mr Denis O'Brien had met with Mr Michael Lowry in a Dublin pub.
Mr Knut Haga told the tribunal that when he was told of the meeting he felt Mr O'Brien was trying to compensate for his company's lack of financial strength in relation to its involvement in Esat Digifone, by trying to impress Telenor with his apparent usefulness.
He said this did not work as Mr O'Brien was "trying too hard" to impress.
He believed the talk about the pub meeting was just "a colourful story". He felt it was "mildly entertaining" but not worthy of any serious consideration.
His reaction at the time was that it was "far-fetched" that the minister responsible for the mobile phone licence competition would meet with one of the bidding consortiums.
The meeting, between Mr O'Brien and Mr Lowry in Hartigan's pub, Dublin, took place on the day of the All Ireland final, September 17th, 1995.
Both men have confirmed the meeting took place but have said the licence competition was not discussed.
Mr Haga said he was told by Telenor executive Mr Per Simonsen that Mr O'Brien had told him, Mr Simonsen, about the meeting.
He believed the conversation with Mr Simonsen took place in the lobby or piano bar of the Davenport Hotel, Dublin, where he was staying at the time.
It was an informal conversation and the matter was not followed up.
He did not recall Mr Simonsen telling him anything further about what Mr O'Brien had said about the meeting with Mr Lowry.
He did not have the impression after the conversation that Mr Simonsen had any concerns about the matter, and he had no concerns.
At the outset of yesterday's hearing, chairman Mr Justice Moriarty said a number of witnesses from Telenor would be heard over the coming two weeks and that the services of an interpreter would be available for witnesses whose English was not sufficiently proficient.
Mr Haga gave most of his evidence without the use of the interpreter.
He said Telenor was "favourably impressed" when it was learned in 1995 that Mr Dermot Desmond was to support the Esat Digifone consortium.
He said Telenor was pleased because Mr Desmond's involvement would provide a solution to the funding problem Telenor believed existed for Mr O'Brien's Communicorp.
Secondly, Mr O'Brien had said that Mr Desmond's involvement would raise the Irish profile of the consortium's bid, and that this would be an advantage.
Mr Haga told Ms Jacqueline O'Brien, for the tribunal, that he worked on issues to do with debt funding and third-party project finance in relation to the Esat Digifone bid.
He left Telenor soon afterwards.
Mr Haga said he never met Mr Michael Lowry or Mr Dermot Desmond. He was told Esat Digifone had won the competition on October 26th, 1995, the day after the result was announced. He was in Stockholm.
He believed no senior Telenor executive was in Dublin on the day of the announcement, which had not been expected.
Mr Haga resumes his evidence today.