Former Esat chairman Mr Denis O'Brien has challenged the sub-committee of the rail signalling inquiry to state if it believes witnesses were involved in a conspiracy to defraud CI╔.
Mr O'Brien was responding to questions about tactics he and business associate Mr Leslie Buckley used in Esat's deal with CI╔ to create a phone network by laying cables along railway lines.
He indicated the inquiry should not read anything unusual into the inclusion of plans for the deal in Esat's prospectus for flotation or Mr Buckley's subsequent rigorous attempts to ensure CI╔ stuck to the terms of the deal.
"If you sign a contract, you want it to be implemented as quickly as possible," he said in response to questions by Mr Pat Rabbitte TD.
"Either this was an honest and genuine effort by CI╔ staff to develop further income for CI╔ under a deal that was negotiated over many, many months or else it is being suggested that the management and board and everybody in CI╔ were involved in a shabby conspiracy to defraud CI╔. It's either one or the other."
Mr Rabbitte replied that the subcommittee was "not suggesting anything".
Earlier, Mr O'Brien had clarified for the inquiry that the "signed letter of intent" between Esat and CI╔ which referred to Esat's prospectus for flotation was in fact the "heads of agreement" both companies signed on June 16th, 1997.
The inquiry heard last week that CI╔'s chief solicitor, Mr Michael Carroll, was unaware of the letter and believed there would be serious implications if it was included in the prospectus and no such document existed.
Mr O'Brien, who floated Esat on the Nasdaq index, said that under US law, he had to refer to the document as a letter of intent although it was called heads of agreement in dealings with CI╔.
Mr Rabbitte repeated his assertion of last week that the document was the "cornerstone" of the Esat prospectus. "It was crucially important in terms of what you were asking investors to invest in," he said. Mr O'Brien said it was only "one of the bricks in the wall". He said investors were sophisticated and knew Esat only had a letter of intent, not a firm contract. "Fund managers don't buy pipe dreams," he said.
The inquiry has been investigating whether undue pressure was brought to bear on CI╔ to conclude the deal with Esat.
It is also examining suggestions that the deal disrupted the installation of CI╔'s rail-signalling system, known as mini-CTC, which is now two years late and £36 million over budget.
Mr O'Brien told the inquiry yesterday he had tentative plans to do a similar deal with the rail authorities in Northern Ireland.
He employed one of the key negotiators in the CI╔ deal, former CI╔ head of programmes and projects, Dr Ray Byrne, as a consultant with a view to sending him to the North, but Esat was the subject of a hostile takeover shortly afterwards and the plan was abandoned.