Moriarty Tribunal brands rent deal 'profoundly corrupt'

An inquiry into payments to politicians has branded a rent deal linked to an Independent TD and businessman Ben Dunne as "profoundly corrupt".

The Moriarty Tribunal found that Michael Lowry sought to influence a hike in the lease for Marlborough House in Dublin - home to Telecom Éireann in the 1990s - following a request from Mr Dunne.

The inquiry found that these rent increases would have improperly enriched Mr Dunne.

The findings were contained in the second and final report from the tribunal set up in 1997 to investigate the financial affairs of late Taoiseach Charles Haughey and separately Mr Lowry.

It examined the awarding of the second mobile phone licence in Ireland to billionaire telecoms tycoon Denis O'Brien in 1995.

The tribunal ruled that then communications minister Mr Lowry was less than discreet and less cautious than might have been advisable in his dealings with interested parties ahead of the licence being granted.

The tribunal severely attacked Mr Lowry's evidence on the licence award and said it had no hesitation in rejecting it.

It found that, in order to ensure fairness in the process of selecting an operator, a project group was set up involving Government officials supported by specialist consultants free of political or other influences.

But it also found that, while it was decided the process should be "sealed" with information remaining confidential within the group, this "seal" was breached on a series of occasions.

It said: "It is clear that substantive information was also made available to Mr M Lowry who, contrary to his testimony to the tribunal, was far from being a disinterested Minister, but in fact exhibited an appreciable curiosity about the substantive process as it was proceeding, and sought, and was provided with, information by members of the project group."

The report referred to Mr Lowry's "propensity to interact with and to disseminate sensitive and confidential information to interested parties".

Prior to the awarding of the mobile phone licence, on September 17, 1995, both Mr Lowry and Mr O'Brien met during the All-Ireland Final in Croke Park.

They met again afterwards at Hartigans pub in Lesson Street, in central Dublin.

Both said they talked of nothing but the football match and Mr O'Brien's landline business while alone with each other for half an hour.

But the tribunal found it was "wholly incredible and inconceivable" that the pair did not talk about the mobile phone licence.

The report states that the "realistic inference" from the meeting was that Mr Lowry volunteered information about the official assessment of Mr O'Brien's Esat Digifone bid for the licence.

Mr O'Brien was described as a young entrepreneur when he put himself up to secure the mobile licence.

In the 14 years since, his wealth has ballooned thanks to huge interests and investments in media, and newspaper group Independent News and Media, in Ireland and across Europe and telecoms giant Digicel in the Caribbean.

Mr O'Brien went on to float Esat, walking away with more than £300m by selling it to British Telecom while retaining a 30% stake.

Forbes put his wealth at €2.9bn in the latest rich list.

In a statement, Mr O'Brien said the report was fundamentally flawed as it was based on the "opinions and theories" of tribunal chairman Michael Moriarty and his legal team.

Mr O'Brien said it was extremely disturbing that the tribunal ignored sworn evidence of government ministers, department officials, barristers and a former Taoiseach.

"I wish to state in the most categoric terms once again that I never made any payment to Michael Lowry in his capacity as a government Minister, as a public representative or as a private citizen," he said.

Mr O'Brien claimed it was evident from the outset that the tribunal's final report would be designed to damage the reputations of many reputable people.