Moriarty hears how Desmond joined ESAT bid
The Moriarty Tribunal has heard details of how former ESAT chairman Denis O'Brien brought millionaire businessman Dermot Desmond into his bid for Ireland's second mobile phone licence.
The tribunal heard today that Mr O'Brien had approached Davy Stockbrokers to find investors for his licence application and the company eventually convinced three investors to take a 20% stake in the consortium for €8.5m.
However, Mr O'Brien then asked Davy Stockbrokers to instruct the investors to leave the bid and newspapers subsequently reported that Mr Desmond's investment firm was brought in instead.
Davy Stockbrokers wrote to Mr O'Brien asking why the three investors were asked to step aside, as they were financially stronger than Mr Desmond's firm, International Investment Underwriting. It asked Mr O'Brien if IIU had inside knowledge, but the ESAT chairman said this was not the case.
