Esat rival ‘using inquiry as a stalking horse’

A LOSING consortium in the bid for Ireland’s second mobile phone licence has been accused of using the Moriarty Tribunal as a “stalking horse” for a massive compensation claim against the State.

Businessman and head of the Esat consortium, Denis O’Brien — whose bid for the second phone licence was successful — yesterday raised questions over what he claimed were close ties between representatives of Esat’s main rival in the application, Persona, and the tribunal’s legal team.

Giving evidence at the Moriarty Tribunal in Dublin Castle yesterday, Mr O’Brien said it appeared that Gerald Moloney, solicitor to the Persona consortium, had been making his own inquiries in Ireland, England and Belgium which were designed to collect information damaging to him.