Esat man 'found' in room for licence applicants

A representative of Esat Digifone was "found" in a room in which he should not have been in the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications, during the 1995 mobile phone licence competition, the Moriarty tribunal heard yesterday.

According to a memorandum prepared for the tribunal by Andersen Management International (AMI), the Danish consultancy which helped to select the licence winner, the "abnormal event" was a cause of "great concern" to AMI. The consultants asked the civil servant chairing the selection committee, Mr Martin Brennan, to write to Esat Digifone about the matter.

"However, AMI does not know whether such a letter was sent," according to the memo. Mr Brennan, who was giving evidence yesterday, was not asked about the matter. Mr Jerry Healy SC, for the tribunal, said the weight which would be given to the AMI memo was an issue now that Mr Michael Andersen of AMI had said he would not be in Dublin to give evidence.

The 38-page AMI memo was written after the consultancy was paid to produce it in January 2002.

In relation to security, the memo said: "Generally speaking, the security precautions on the part of the Department were below the level of security that AMI has experienced with regard to prior tender processes to which AMI had provided its assistance to National Regulatory Authorities in other jurisdictions. One example is that it appeared to be fairly easy for interested parties to obtain information from the Department, at least during the initial stages.

"Another example is that AMI was informed by the Department that a representative from Esat Digifone was 'found' in the meeting room where the applicant presentation meetings with each applicant took place at a time when he was not supposed to be there. We understand that the man found was from Esat Digifone and he was found by civil servants from the Department or similar. AMI consultants were not present but heard about this abnormal event, which caused AMI great concern."

The memo also noted that before the use of the meeting room for applicant presentation meetings, it was swept "in order to identify any unauthorised microphones or other listening devices placed in the room". The tribunal has already heard that the room was also swept for bugs during the presentation meetings, which took place in September 1995.

The consultancy suggested that the Department should have put in place a "special lock-up system through which only certain named persons involved in the process could gain access". AMI also said in its memo that the selection process was, in the main, "carried out in a professional and correct manner" subject to the reservations as to security. It said that the Esat Digifone bid was the best submitted when measured by the agreed evaluation criteria used.

"In AMI's opinion the evaluation result nominating Esat Digifone as the winner thus was and is the right result."

Mr Brennan, in evidence, was asked about a memo written in October 1995 by Mr Ed O'Callaghan, a civil servant involved in the selection process.

In it, Mr O'Callaghan said that on October 6th, 1995, Mr Brennan refused to tell him who was ahead in the evaluation process at that date. Mr Brennan said this might have been because Mr O'Callaghan was not a full member of the evaluation team. Mr Healy asked who was on the project team.

"This [the licence\] was one of the most significant pieces of largesse conferred on anyone by the government in the last 50 years," he said, yet there was no record outlining exactly who was on the project team.

Mr Brennan said he had been clear on this matter in private session with the tribunal and he asked why it was now being raised in a "confrontational" way. He said the team members were heads of the various divisions involved, with deputies also attending meetings.

The chairman, Mr Justice Moriarty, said it was "perplexing" that Mr O'Callaghan might not have been told. Mr Brennan said it could have been that Mr O'Callaghan asked him for the information in a public setting, such as a canteen, with other people around. "I don't see what the problem is," he said.

Mr Brennan is to resume giving evidence today.