Mr James Stafford has denied he misled the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) by not revealing that Mr John Mulhern held share options in Century Radio.
Mr Pat Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, said Mr Stafford stated at the IRTC oral hearings for the national licence in January 1989 that only he and Mr Oliver Barry owned the company and that shares had not been offered to any other party.
Mr Stafford said yesterday the information he gave to the chairman of the IRTC, Mr Justice Henchy, was correct at the time. He said Mr Mulhern had lent him money to fund Century Radio and held share options in the company but he was not an investor. Although there was no formal agreement between them, he said if Mr Mulhern had called in his options he would have honoured them.
Mr Hanratty asked Mr Stafford if he now thought his answers at the oral hearings were misleading. "No, they were factually correct," Mr Stafford replied. Mr Hanratty asked if it would have been wise to inform the IRTC of Mr Mulhern's share options in the company. "I don't think so," Mr Stafford said.
Mr Stafford said Mr Justice Henchy had been particularly concerned about where control of the company would lie. Mr Stafford said that if Mr Mulhern had called in options, control of the company would not have shifted.
Earlier, he told the tribunal Mr Mulhern had not invested in Century Radio but had given him an unsecured loan. "It was an unresourced loan with which I bought shares and funded the company," he said.
Mr Justice Flood asked Mr Stafford what benefit Mr Mulhern had received from making an unsecured loan, apart from Mr Stafford's friendship. "He seemed to think that was adequate security," Mr Stafford said.
Mr Stafford was also questioned about a fax he had sent to Mr Mulhern on January 17th, 1989, in the week the IRTC was to make a decision on the national broadcasting licence. In the fax, Mr Stafford referred to a conversation with Mr Dermot Desmond, saying he had told Mr Desmond Century Radio "could only consider clients interested in participation after we had a decision" on the licence.
When asked who those clients were, Mr Stafford said: "I actually do not know. You'll have to give me a list of names and perhaps it will jog my memory . . . I'm not certain I ever knew."
Mr Hanratty told Mr Stafford he had shown the tribunal he had a good memory. "Why do you think your memory is failing you in this matter?" he asked.
Mr Stafford said the matter would not necessarily have been important and was not unusual in business. He said Mr Desmond as an investment banker would be interested in such a venture.
Mr Stafford also said Mr P.J. Mara was not an investor in Century Radio despite the fact that he had a document on the institutional shareholders of the company. Mr Stafford said he presumed Mr Mara had asked for a copy of the document on behalf of a government minister.