Businessman Denis O’Brien has described the report of the Moriarty tribunal as “fundamentally flawed”.
In a statement, Mr O’Brien said he wished to state in “the most categoric terms” that he never made any payment to Michael Lowry “in his capacity as a government minister, as a public representative or as a private citizen”.
His denials are in stark contrast to the findings of the report.
Mr O’Brien said it had been “evident from the outset to me and to many other witnesses before this tribunal that the final report would be designed to damage the reputations of many reputable people”.
He said it was extremely disturbing that the chairman of the tribunal, Mr Justice Michael Moriarty, had chosen to ignore evidence from a number of sources such as the Department of Communications, the Department of Finance, 17 civil servants, five Government Ministers, two barristers from the Office of the Attorney General and one former Taoiseach.
Mr O’Brien said Mr Justice Moriarty had admitted to making “two not insignificant errors” and that these had been used to substantiate false theories.
“I believe it is unprecedented in the history of this country that a High Court judge would make such fundamental errors which went to the heart of the credibility and integrity of a tribunal process,” Mr O’Brien said.
Mr O’Brien said it was “incumbent on the judiciary to investigate the conduct of Mr Justice Moriarty and the tribunal legal team for the manner in which they conducted themselves”.
Tonight, Mr O'Brien insisted there was no evidence to say his company won the licence unfairly or made any payments to Mr Lowry. He said he had never given Mr Lowry "one red cent".
Mr O'Brien said Mr Justice Moriarty was "totally wrong" and had a view that he was guilty. He said he gave the judge access to accounts and diaries and that nothing had been uncovered but that Mr Justice Moriarty had eliminated evidence that did not suit him.
He told RTÉ news that a claim he had asked a bank to give Mr Lowry a loan was "ridiculous" and that the suggestion he had guaranteed a loan for Mr Lowry was also untrue.
When asked why appeals taken against the tribunal had been unsuccessful, Mr O'Brien said a "ring of steel" had been built around Mr Justice Moriarty.
