Members of the Government project group overseeing the second mobile phone licence competition did not retain a copy of a letter on Esat Digifone's finances which was sent to the group in the closing stages of the company's bid, the tribunal heard.
The letter, dated September 29th, 2001, was sent from Mr Dermot Desmond's IIU Ltd to Mr Martin Brennan, chairman of the project group, giving details of IIU's backing of the Esat bid in place of another investment company, Advent.
Mr Fintan Towey, a member of the project group, drafted a reply to Mr Denis O'Brien of Esat on October 2nd, saying that, under the rules of the competition, new information could not be taken into account at that stage of the process, and, therefore, the group was obliged to disregard the letter.
Apart from Mr Towey and Mr Brennan, it appeared no other member of the project group was aware of the letter, Mr John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, said. He said the view may have been taken that as it contained additional material the other members of the group did not need to know about it.
However, Mr Coughlan said the tribunal would inquire into all the circumstances surrounding the sending of the letter, with particular reference to whether the process was compromised, and if so, by whom.
Mr Coughlan said the tribunal would also ask whether Mr Towey and Mr Brennan should have sent the letter to Mr O'Brien, and whether they should have retained a copy of it in the Department files.
He said the tribunal would also examine what consideration if any the group should have given the IIU letter in the context of Esat's application and oral presentation on September 12th, 1995, in relation to the company's financial position and ownership.
Earlier, the tribunal heard the project group had identified Esat as the "likely frontrunner" by late September.
A draft evaluation report sent by consultants Anderson to the Department of Transport on October 4th, 1995, said the applicants had been assessed under four models, and overall Esat was ranked highest.
Under Anderson's quantitative analysis, however, Esat had slipped a place on the previous month: going from third to fourth on the table. On October 2nd, Persona had slipped to second, and the bidder coded A6 had risen to first.
