O'Brien accuses Telenor executives of lying

The businessman, Denis O'Brien, has accused executives of the company, Telenor, of telling lies under oath to the Moriarty Tribunal.

Mr O'Brien categorically denied that a controversial payment of $50,000 was made to Fine Gael by Telenor on behalf of ESAT Digifone in 1996, as was stated by the Telenor executives.

Mr O'Brien refused to disagree with Mr John Coughlan, Counsel for the Tribunal, when he said that "this is a complete and utter fit up against you". The multimillionaire businessman said that his version of events stood.

Earlier, lawyers for the Tribunal suggested that Mr O'Brien was trying to get money to David Austin, the Fine Gael fundraiser, by putting shares in an account for him. The lawyers suggested that as Mr Austin was dying the shares were taken back and given to Mr O'Brien's father-in-law. Mr O'Brien has adamantly denied this.

Mr Coughlan put it to the witness that the presence of the shares in Mr Austin's account would have caused difficulty when the Inland Revenue affidavit was sworn after his death.

He also said that Mr O'Brien's stockbrokers moved these shares out of Mr Austin's account after he died without any authority from the executors of his will. Mr O'Brien stated that the entire matter was as a mistake, a result of "human error", and he always intended to buy shares for his father in law, not Mr Austin.

Mr O'Brien's father-in-law, Noel Charles Walshe, earlier gave evidence about how the ESAT Telecom shares were transferred into his account from the late Mr Austin's account in late 1998.

Mr Walshe said that he had no knowledge that the shares were taken from Mr Austin's account, but knew they were shares being credited to him on the instruction of Mr O'Brien.

Mr O'Brien said that the error was noticed and rectified two weeks before Mr Austin's death and that the shares were duly transferred to his father-in-law in November 1998 from Mr Austin.

Mr O'Brien is giving evidence at the Tribunal today for the second time. The businessman will face tough questioning following last week's evidence from former colleagues in Telenor.

Three Norwegian witnesses all contradicted Mr O'Brien on his knowledge of a $50,000 payment to Fine Gael.