NORWEGIAN executive Per Simonsen insisted at the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday that Esat Digifone chairman Denis O’Brien told him Communications Minister Michael Lowry had suggested, when the two Irishmen met in a Dublin pub, that he get financier Dermot Desmond to back the Digifone consortium.

FORMER civil servant Fintan Towey told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday he stood over the evaluation report that selected Esat Digifone as winner of the competition for the state’s second mobile phone licence.

SENIOR civil servant Fintan Towey viewed a letter showing Dermot Desmond’s early involvement in Esat Digifone as the consortium’s attempt to boost its prospects of winning the State’s second mobile phone licence competition.