Century Radio was less a serious effort to introduce commercial radio to Ireland and more an elaborate exercise in concealment and deception, it is becoming increasingly clear from the evidence presented to the Flood tribunal.
After an eight-week break in public hearings, the tribunal returned yesterday to hear further evidence from the businessman and co-founder of Century, Mr James Stafford, regarding the station's short and controversial existence.
Two months have done nothing to dim Mr Stafford's self-belief, and he spent much of the day archly contradicting the version of events put forward by Mr Pat Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, and by many of the characters directly involved.
Yet even this supremely confident witness had difficulties explaining some of the contradictions that emerged during Mr Hanratty's questioning. Meanwhile, the level of concealment alleged in the Century venture is reaching staggering proportions.
We already knew that Mr Stafford and his partner in Century, Mr Oliver Barry, hid the involvement of Mr John Mulhern, the son-in-law of the then Taoiseach, in the project, in contravention of the rules of the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) which awarded the national licence in January 1989.
But Messrs Stafford, Barry and Mulhern also tried to put "a second boat in the water", as the witness put it yesterday, in the form of a separate bid for a radio licence in Dublin.
The accountant, Mr Paschal Taggart, was brought in to front this venture, Dublin One Radio, but all power lay with the publicity-shy triumvirate.
Century's principals said nothing about their involvement in Dublin One to the IRTC, whose deliberations on the national licence might have been influenced had it known that Century was also bidding for a Dublin licence.
Mr Denis O'Brien, for example, was openly involved in applications for both national and Dublin licences. He got one of the two Dublin franchises.
Furthermore, it is clear from yesterday's evidence that Century's principals went to considerable effort to hide the details of the Dublin One investment from their own staff and their accountants. The station's chief executive, financial controller and, later on, its chairman made a number of attempts to establish the destination of monies paid to Dublin One, but got no clear answers.
Mr Stafford admitted he was wrong to have these monies entered in the books as one of the costs of establishing the business, when this was not the case. A £5,000 donation to Fianna Fail was also wrongly entered as a business cost.
Mr Hanratty spent much of the day trying to shed light on the mysterious passage of the Dublin One money and the Fianna Fail donation through Century's books.
In December 1988 Mr Barry's company, Quality Artistes Management, paid £21,250. Mr Barry later made the £5,000 contribution, by bank draft, to Fianna Fail. In June the following year Century repaid the total sum, £26,250, to QAM/Mr Barry.
But in January 1990, the same amount flowed back from QAM to Century. Mr Hanratty suggested this was about the time that Century staff were querying the payment, but the witness said he had not the slightest idea why the money was repaid.
And then in December 1990, the same amount passed back from Century to QAM. So the net effect was that Mr Barry was reimbursed for his investment in Dublin One and the contribution to Fianna Fail.
Mr Hanratty drew our attention to a number of coincidences surrounding this sum of £26,250. It exactly matched a series of round-sum payments recorded in Century's books in March 1989. These record various payments to suppliers, but no VAT appears to have been levied.
The figure also equals 10 per cent of £262,500, the fee RTE charged Century for transmitting the new station's signal. RTE wanted more initially, but the amount was reduced after the intervention of the then minister for communications, Mr Ray Burke.
Mr Hanratty asked the witness if Century had any arrangement to pay anyone 10 per cent of this figure. Mr Stafford responded by saying he was amazed at the suggestion.
The full extent of Mr Stafford's role in the Dublin One venture is unclear. As before, the witness painted himself as the clever, inquiring, upright director somewhat out of the loop in Century's activities.
He denied yesterday that Mr Taggart was working on the Dublin One project on his behalf, a claim that is contradicted by Mr Barry and Mr Taggart.
Mr Stafford denied any involvement in drawing up the Dublin One submission, only to be presented by Mr Hanratty with handwritten amendments to exactly such a document in his own hand.
Mr Barry and Mr Stafford had ready access to Mr Burke and the then Taoiseach, Mr Haughey, but they were loath to spend too much money on their venture, according to Mr Taggart, who has told the tribunal that Century was grossly under-funded and had no chance of succeeding.
pcullen@irish-times.ie