O'Brien and O'Reilly in INM war of words

DENIS O’BRIEN and his business associate Leslie Buckley reignited their battle with Independent News Media chief executive Gavin O’Reilly yesterday.

Mr O’Brien accused Mr O’Reilly of making “delusional” statements about the group’s financial strength, while a row about the media group’s coverage of the Moriarty tribunal deepened.

Mr O’Brien, the group’s largest shareholder, said Mr O’Reilly and chairman Brian Hillery were “delusional in their total denial of the extremely chronic financial situation” and that the group “repeatedly informs the market how well it is performing while the share value falls year after year”.

Meanwhile, Mr Buckley hit out at Mr O'Reilly following an article in the Sunday Independentheadlined "Ex-INM director gets boot over interference". Mr Buckley was ousted as a director of the company by institutional shareholders at its agm on Friday.

He rejected the accusation that he had tried to interfere with coverage of the Moriarty tribunal as “false and misleading” and made a counterclaim of editorial interference against Mr O’Reilly in relation to yesterday’s article. He said it was “disappointing” that he had not been asked for comment.

Mr Buckley outlined his actions relating to coverage of the tribunal, which examined business dealings between Mr O’Brien and then government minister Michael Lowry in the 1990s.

Mr Buckley admitted he had noted his concerns about the "balance" of coverage of the tribunal in a phone call with Mr O'Reilly. He said he had raised the nature of the coverage by Irish Independentjournalist Sam Smyth and suggested to Mr O'Reilly that another journalist from the newspaper be asked to attend the tribunal.

A spokesman for Mr Buckley denied that this telephone call constituted editorial interference.

“It was a suggestion made on a private telephone call. Leslie would be quite resolute that that doesn’t constitute interference,” Mr Buckley’s spokesman said.

The company's spokesman said it stood by its statement that Mr Buckley had interfered. "We maintain that Leslie Buckley, as a director of the board, attempted to have Sam Smyth removed from covering the Moriarty tribunal for the Irish Independent. If Mr Buckley has any issues with what Gavin O'Reilly has said on this matter, he can of course pursue legal remedy."

Mr O’Brien is suing the group and Mr Smyth in relation to a May 2010 article about the tribunal.

Yesterday, Mr O’Brien, who holds a 22 per cent stake in the company, called on management to make an immediate statement to the stock exchange on its strategy for appointing a new chairman. Mr O’Brien’s call followed reports that Mr Hillery is to resign as chairman.

“I think it is inappropriate that the outgoing chairman had such a strong involvement and business association with one shareholder for many years. Mr Hillery was not an independent chairman and the company has suffered gravely because of this,” Mr O’Brien said.

Mr Hillery was last Friday re-elected as chairman for another year with the support of 99.6 per cent of shareholders, including Mr O’Brien. It is understood that Mr Hillery has signalled internally his intention to retire, but that his exit is not imminent.

“Any changes to INM’s board will be announced to all shareholders in line with the listing rules and best-practice governance guidelines,” the group said.“At this time no announcement obligations arise.”

In response to Mr O’Brien’s criticism, the company’s spokesman said it had increased profits and reduced debt. “It is not very helpful for a major shareholder to be talking down the company, especially when it is in complete contradiction of the facts.”