State paid Eur 4m to expert who refuses to testify

Moriarty Tribunal: A Danish management consultant who is refusing to travel to Ireland to give evidence to the tribunal has received almost €4 million in fees from the State, it has been revealed.

Mr Michael Andersen was the consultant whose company AMI acted as advisor to the Department of Communications project team evaluating bids for the second mobile phone licence in 1995. His evidence could be crucial to the tribunal's investigations into this process.

Mr John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, said Mr Andersen received €3.953 million in fees for services provided in the telecommunications field.

Counsel asked Mr Fintan Towey, the full-time co-ordinator of the project team, whether he found it strange that someone who had received so much money from the State would not come to give evidence to a tribunal set up by Dáil Éireann.

Mr Towey agreed it was strange.

Mr Andersen has told the tribunal that contractual difficulties with the new owners of AMI mean that he is unable to attend at Dublin Castle to give evidence to the tribunal.

Earlier, Mr Towey said the Minister for Communications, Mr Lowry, could not have interfered with the awarding of the second mobile phone licence because he did not have sufficient understanding of the process.

He told the tribunal that the Minister only received superficial reports about the team's work. He didn't have the depth of understanding that would be needed for an intervention.

Asked if he had any reason to suspect that Mr Lowry was trying to influence the procedure, Mr Towey said he hadn't.

To the limited extent that the Minister was aware of the project team's work, he didn't believe the context gave rise to any interference.

He told Mr Richard Nesbitt SC, for the Department, there was nothing sinister about the fact that no minutes had been taken of a series of meetings involving team members in the run-up to the issuing of the licence to Esat Digiphone in May 1996.

There was no question of any concealment of the final stages of the process, he said. It was a busy time, but the Department was clear on the ownership of Esat Digiphone and saw nothing that could have derailed the process.

Asked about media coverage of the process, Mr Towey said there had been a lot of speculation, rumour and innuendo.

In preparing for the announcement of the licence award, at which Mr Lowry would be sitting alongside non-elected officials, it was important to ensure that the Minister went into the process "with his eyes open".

Mr Towey has completed his evidence; the tribunal will resume on Wednesday.