Inquiry told of off-limits Digifone man

A PERSON from Denis O’Brien’s phone company was found in an off-limits room used by bidders for the country’s second mobile phone licence, the Moriarty Tribunal was told yesterday.

The man was discovered by civil servants in the Department of Communications fifth-floor room on Dublin’s Kildare Street, according to a report by Danish consultant Michael Andersen. The six groups bidding for the licence used the room in September 1995 during presentations.

Senior civil servant Martin Brennan, who chaired the group that vetted the applications, will be quizzed by tribunal lawyers as to the man’s identity, whether he had access to any sensitive documents or if anyone else was in the room at the time.

On October 25, 1995, Denis O’Brien’s company was awarded the licence. Mr O’Brien, now a tax exile living in the Algarve, went on to sell the licence for 2.4bn, having bought it for 19m.

The report by Mr Andersen, who is the former head of Andersen Management International (AMI), was also critical of other aspects of security in the department, describing it as “surprisingly lax”.

The 38-page report said the facilities where the department carried out work related to the licence tender process were readily accessible to the public. It appeared to be fairly easy for interested parties to obtain information from the department, at least during the initial stages of the tender process, according to Mr Andersen.

The report did not identify the Digifone person, state when the security breach occurred or what action may have been taken as a result.

Mr Andersen has already told the tribunal he won’t be travelling to Dublin Castle to give evidence, citing legal complications after he sold his interest in the firm. Tribunal lawyer Jerry Healy SC said that in view of this situation the question was what weight was to be attached to his document.

Mr Brennan told the tribunal last month the meeting room was swept for electronic bugging devices before and during these presentations.

AMI had praised the quality of the winning Digifone presentation, saying it was among the best it had seen during many evaluations.