Chairman tells of Desmond ‘complaints’

FINANCIER Dermot Desmond has personally contacted Mr Justice Michael Moriarty on a number of occasions to complain about the way the tribunal is conducting its inquiry, the clearly annoyed chairman said yesterday.

The chairman's disclosure came during a 10-minute row with lawyers representing the three parties that held shares in Esat Digifone when it won the country's second mobile telephone licence seven years ago.

Lawyers for Mr Desmond, Denis O'Brien's Communicorp Group and Telenor of Norway, accused the tribunal of attacking part of the process under which the licence was awarded rather than inquiring whether former Communications Minister Michael Lowry received payments.