‘Trawl of INM staff who acted adversely’
O’Brien-linked firm paid €60k for data, court told
A FIRM acting on behalf of Denis O’Brien paid €60,000 to obtain the computer data of people working at Independent News and Media who may have ‘acted adversely’ towards him, it was alleged at the High Court yesterday.
The removal of large amounts of data from INM’s headquarters may have been done in 2014 to ‘confer advantage’ on the billionaire businessman ‘at the expense of the company [INM] as a whole’, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement’s lawyers said.
They said that such a scenario could arise from a ‘culture of deference’ towards Mr O’Brien – who is INM’s biggest single shareholder with a 29.9% stake – and his then boardroom nominee Leslie Buckley.
Brian Murray SC, for Director of Corporate Enforcement Ian Drennan – who is seeking court permission to send inspectors into INM as soon as possible – explained the 2014 trawl ‘may have been conducted for and on behalf of Mr O’Brien and/or for his personal benefit’.
Computer files were transported from Dublin to Wales and specific searches were later conducted, including 71 ‘extractions’ from email boxes, the court heard. Included in the searches were people ‘who may in some way be regarded as having acted adversely to the major shareholder, Denis O’Brien’, Mr Murray said. These were said include the media outfit’s former chief executive Gavin O’Reilly, its former director of corporate affairs Karl Brophy, and others.
Both Mr O’Reilly and Mr Brophy left the company in 2012.
It is alleged Blaydon Ltd, an Isle of Man-based investment company that paid for the trawl, ‘acts as a paying agent on behalf of Denis O’Brien and associated companies’, the court heard.
Mr Murray told the court: ‘If what appears to have occurred did occur, this could only have happened because of a fundamental malaise within the company – a culture of deference to the position of the majority shareholder [Mr O’Brien] and his nominee [Mr Buckley].’
Mr Buckley became chairman of INM in 2012, the same year Mr O’Brien acquired a 29.9% stake in the newspaper group. Mr Buckley stepped down from its board in March of this year.
Summing up the ODCE’s argument, the president of the High Court, Judge Peter Kelly, said: ‘You say this shows a pattern of wrongful disclosure of pricesensitive information to one shareholder [Mr O’Brien].’
The ODCE, which has been investigating INM for over a year, claims to have ‘strong circumstantial evidence’ against the firm regarding concerns about ‘corporate governance’.
Mr Murray stressed to Judge Kelly that the court can send in inspectors without reaching any findings of fact. INM ‘requires to be investigated’ and the ODCE believes it has ‘an unusually strong case for the appointment of inspectors’, Mr Murray said.
The hearing continues today.