Moriarty Tribunal: Counsel for Mr Denis O'Brien described aspects of the tribunal's proceedings as a "disgrace" but later withdrew the remark.
Mr Eoin McGonigal SC, made the comment during a heated intervention during the questioning of Mr Arve Johansen, a senior executive with Norwegian firm Telenor. He complained that despite numerous requests to be told the nature of any allegations being made against his client or anyone else, there had been no response from the tribunal.
He complained about being left "totally in the dark" on memos that were being produced by the chairman or his legal team, on evidence already heard.
Mr McGonigal said it seemed that on foot of these memos witnesses were being asked questions about issues of concern, often matters that had been dealt with in evidence years earlier. "I think it is a disgrace," he said.
Mr Justice Moriarty said Mr McGonigal had made an "absolutely unnecessary observation". He said that given the 27,000 pages of evidence, it was not unreasonable for him to synopsise net portions of the evidence. He was keeping an "absolutely open mind" on the conclusions that would be drawn from them.
The comments by Mr McGonigal were made in the morning. At the outset of the afternoon's session Mr McGonigal said he wanted to "completely and unreservedly" withdraw his earlier comment. He said he fully appreciated the pressure the chairman was under and had not intended in any way to be derogatory of him or his work.
Mr Justice Moriarty said he appreciated Mr McGonigal's remarks and that "this whole business" was not without its pressures on everyone involved.
Mr Johansen said Mr O'Brien created the impression that he had more influence in Ireland than was the case. He said Mr O'Brien "bluffed" Telenor into agreeing to give a stake in Esat Digifone to Mr Dermot Desmond's IIU Ltd. At the time Mr O'Brien said this would strengthen the consortium but in May 1996 Mr Johansen decided that IIU's involvement was designed more to strengthen Mr O'Brien's firm, Communicorp.
Mr McGonigal pointed to letters written by Telenor at the time, which indicated that it agreed that the involvement of IIU would strengthen the consortium and would address concerns that Telenor had about the financial strength of Communicorp. Mr Johansen agreed that the letters seemed to indicate the position of Telenor at the time.
Mr Rossa Fanning, for Mr Michael Lowry, asked Mr Johansen if he was aware that the details of the relationship between Telenor, Mr O'Brien and Mr Desmond's IIU were not relevant to the tribunal save in so far as they implicated Mr Lowry in some way. Mr Johansen said he had a "big problem" seeing the relevance of the evidence.
