Mr Ray Burke would vehemently deny all the allegations made in the opening statement to the tribunal, his lawyer said yesterday. He accused tribunal counsel of not being impartial.
Mr Aidan Walsh SC, for Mr Burke, said that the opening statement was not "neutral, fair, independent, impartial and unbiased".
Mr Pat Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, who made the statement, rejected the allegation, stating: "I do not accept that I was not impartial in my opening."
Earlier, Mr Hanratty said it was only fair to point out that, even though it had experienced considerable difficulty and had succeeded very much at the eleventh hour, the tribunal had managed to obtain a statement from Mr Burke.
One thing the tribunal knew from his statement was his position in relation to the transmission charges issue and the capping of RTE.
"He 100 per cent stands over the decisions that he made. He said that they were made in the public interest and made reference to his firm conviction that RTE were engaged in abusing their dominant position in the broadcasting market," Mr Han ratty said.
"As of now, on the information we have, it would appear that Mr Burke's view that there was an abuse of a dominant position is his own personal view and, subject to anything that Mr Burke might say, doesn't appear to be based on any advice he received", Mr Hanratty added.
Mr Walsh said he wanted to draw attention to a number of factual inaccuracies Mr Hanratty made in his opening statement.
The context was the payment of £35,000 by Mr Oliver Barry to Mr Burke and the discovery of that was made by Mr Burke to the tribunal after it was set up.
"It was he [Mr Burke] who disclosed the bank accounts and the existence of it and the method of payment being in cash.
"It was he who said it was paid after the general election had been called. Nobody would know anything about it if it wasn't for Mr Burke.
"Mr Burke, as you know, will vehemently deny all the allegations that have been made against him in the opening statement," Mr Walsh said.
The chairman said it appeared the opening statement was balanced and gave both sides.
They should hear all the evidence.
Mr Walsh said what had occurred on Tuesday was a recitation of evidence and a running commentary as if Mr Hanratty was making the case for the prosecution in the case of RTE versus Mr Burke, RTE versus Century, RTE versus Oliver Barry and RTE versus James Stafford.
Earlier yesterday, at the end of his statement, Mr Hanratty had drawn attention to some of the salient features of the gist of what Mr Burke would say, but he did not mention that the previous day, Mr Walsh said.
"Mr Burke is going to deny absolutely everything that was said. The opening, I suggest to you, was not neutral, fair, independent, impartial, unbiased," he said.
"I object as I want to illustrate that the evidence already there was not averted to and not referred to in the opening statement and it was not balanced." The chairman said it was not possible to get all the facts into the opening statement.
He would hear the evidence in detail.
Mr Hanratty said that in this section of the tribunal 40 witnesses would be called and he estimated it would take approximately eight to 10 sitting weeks.