A suggestion by counsel for the Moriarty tribunal that there had been a huge attempt to keep under wraps possible payments by Mr Denis O'Brien in connection with securing the State's second mobile phone licence was rejected by Mr O'Brien at the tribunal yesterday.
The possibility that the payments totalling £200,000 were made, one of them a £100,000 payment to the former communications minister Mr Michael Lowry, emerged in late 1996 when Mr O'Brien told the then Esat Digifone chief executive, Mr Barry Maloney, that he had already paid the money.
Mr O'Brien has now dismissed the remark as bravado and claims the payments were never made.
Counsel for the tribunal, Mr John Coughlan SC, questioned Mr O'Brien yesterday on why he did not inform the tribunal of serious discussions in Esat Telecom in 1997 surrounding the allegation that he had made the payments.
Mr Coughlan put it to Mr O'Brien that there "seemed to have been a huge attempt to keep all of this under wraps at all times". Mr O'Brien disagreed.
Mr Coughlan said not one person in the discussions had brought them to the attention of the tribunal. There was an internal Esat Telecom investigation into the allegations in 1997 and those involved would now be questioned by the tribunal on why they did not inform it of their inquiries, counsel said, adding that this was a serious matter.
Mr O'Brien interjected that it was a serious matter for his reputation as well. "It is indeed, Mr O'Brien," replied Mr Coughlan, before asking Mr O'Brien why he did not tell the tribunal of "this major issue".
Mr O'Brien said when it became an issue his team "went straight in" and gave the tribunal everything. "We didn't start stamping out stuff, we didn't hide under privilege," he said. Mr O'Brien admitted he gave everything when the tribunal became interested in the issue, but not before.