Tribunal told funds used as political donation

A £4,000 cheque to be used for expenses connected with Esat Digifone’s bid for the second GSM mobile licence ended up as a political donation to Fine Gael, the Moriarty Tribunal heard yesterday.

The £4,001.75 cheque was drawn from an Esat-Telenor joint venture account in October 1995 and was co-signed by Denis O’Brien and Telenor executive Hans Myre.

Esat and Telenor were partners in a bid to win the State’s second mobile phone licence at the time.