Gardaí 'will pursue' any criminal offences

INVESTIGATIONS:THE GARDA will not start a full investigation into activities uncovered by the Moriarty report until it has identified any criminal offences, Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan said yesterday.

Mr Callinan said the Bureau of Fraud Investigation and the Criminal Assets Bureau were examining the report with a view to identifying offences, but a decision had not yet been made to launch a full investigation.

A report would be prepared for him “and then I will decide whether or not there will be a full-scale investigation”, he said.

The Moriarty report found payments and other benefits were made by Denis O’Brien to Michael Lowry in connection with the awarding of a mobile phone licence to Esat Digifone.

The commissioner said it was “very prudent and important” that gardaí examined the report in detail and made assessments as to whether or not there were any criminal offences disclosed in it. “If they are, we will pursue those offences,” he said.

Key to the work being done by the Garda at present was the identifying of the offences which would narrow the parameters of any investigation, he said.

The commissioner also said there would be no issues around providing resources for any investigation. “Once we have established there are criminal offences, and if that happens, of course we will provide the resources,” he said.

He declined to say how long it would take before he would decide when any full investigation might begin.“I don’t think we should rush the gates on such an important matter because it is significant,” he said. “I think it is just a question of waiting and seeing, and I am confident that that will happen sooner rather than later.”