Multi-millionaire businessman, Mr Denis O'Brien, who made his fortune through a successful bid for the State's second GSM licence and its subsequent sale to British Telecom, has expressed confidence that he will be able to satisfy the Moriarty Tribunal in relation to payments received indirectly by former Fine Gael minister, Mr Michael Lowry, over a number of years. For his own sake, such an outcome is vital, not only to remove any question mark over the manner in which the GSM licence was granted in 1995, when Mr Lowry was minister for transport, energy and communications, but in terms of his involvement in the current bidding competition for the remnants of Eircom. Mr O'Brien is expected to give evidence before the tribunal next week.
The chairman of the tribunal, Mr Justice Moriarty, has emphasised it would be wrong to draw conclusions on the basis of an outline of evidence and before Mr O'Brien and others have provided their explanations. But the tribunal will examine a possible linkage between Mr O'Brien and four separate payments made to the Fine Gael party and to Mr Lowry between 1995 and 1999. The payments include a donation of $50,000 from Telenor - a former shareholder with Mr O'Brien's company ESAT Telecom in ESAT Digifone - made to Fine Gael in 1995 through the late Mr David Austin; a payment of £147,000 sterling to Mr Lowry by Mr Austin in 1996 from funds raised through the sale of a Spanish property to Mr O'Brien and two transactions involving British property deals in 1998/99 in which Mr Lowry raised £720,000 sterling. Initial tribunal proceedings would suggest that both Mr O'Brien and Mr Lowry will deny knowledge of any linkage of the payments to one another. The fact that third parties were involved in each would seem to support that position. Still, the very existence of such financial links will add to public cynicism and to a perception that a golden circle may still exist in our society.
During the past ten years the public has come to realise that the sometimes murky interface between business and politics is only illuminated when powerful individuals fall out or compete against one another. As a result, various tribunals are now shining lights into dark corners. The work of the McCracken Tribunal in 1997 - which included identifying the so-called Ansbacher accounts as a vehicle for widescale tax evasion - is still bearing fruit. This week's judgement by a Cayman Islands court has impeded an official inquiry by High Court inspectors into the identity of Irish account holders who may have been evading tax through the use of these accounts. And a similar pro-tax haven judgement was made by Isle of Man courts in relation to accounts in a National Irish Bank branch there, which inspectors into that bank's Irish operations wanted to examine..
Despite these setbacks, the inspectors into both Ansbacher (Cayman) and National Irish Bank look likely to produce revealing final reports. Many of the depositors in both institutions are already negotiating with the Revenue Commissioners. They must be seen to pay their taxes and penalties in full - in some cases prosecutions may be pursued. The reports are likely to show that the Government, the Central Bank and the Revenue Commissioners still have gaps to close to prevent widespread evasion through hidden offshore accounts in future.