The businessman James Stafford has denied to the Flood Tribunal that he ever misled the Independent Radio and Television Commission about who actually owned Century Communications, the company behind Century Radio. Mr Stafford told the Tribunal that Charles Haughey's son-in-law, John Mulhearn was not an investor in Century Radio. He had simply lent money to the project. Earlier Tribunal lawyers said that Mr Mulhearn, Mr Stafford and Oliver Barry had an equal shareholding in Century.
James Stafford is the first of an estimated 40 witnesses to be interviewed by the Tribunal for this tranche of its investigations, expected to last eight to ten weeks. It all centres on a cash payment of £35,000 from Oliver Barry to Ray Burke. James Stafford has in written evidence to the Tribunal denied that he knew this payment was made on behalf of Century Communications. Today James Stafford denied that they had mislead the IRTC by not telling them that money for the venture had come from Charles Haughey's son-in-law. He told of meetings he had had with Ray Burke, who was Minister for Communications at the time and how they had asked him to intervene in a dispute with RTE over transmission fees, charges he described as outrageous.
He was asked was PJ Mara, the then government press secretary ever considered as a shareholder of Century. He said absolutely not. He was then asked about a client of the businessman Dermot Desmond who was being considered as a participant but he said he could not remember who that could have been.
