Danish consultant to give evidence at Moriarty tribunal

A DANISH consultant, who had previously declined to appear as a witness, is set to give key evidence to the Moriarty Tribunal today.

Telecommunications expert Michael Andersen is expected to tell the inquiry, which resumes hearings at Dublin Castle this morning, that the competition for the state’s second mobile phone licence was fairly won by the Esat consortium owned by businessman Denis O’Brien.

As a consultant hired by the Government who was centrally involved in designing the competition in 1995, Mr Andersen is also likely to claim that he was unaware of the then Minister for Communications, Michael Lowry, having any role in the decision to award the licence to Esat.