George Redmond

George Redmond (born 1924) was Assistant City and County Manager until his retirement in June 23 1989 at the age of 65. He spent his entire career working for the Dublin local authorities commencing as a clerk in Dublin Corporation in 1941. His net salary in 1989 was £19,380 but he was revealed as a corrupt public official when secret bank accounts were exposed containing amounts equivalent to multiples of his legitimate earnings.

History of corruption

Redmond had since the 1960's been in receipt of regular and substantial payments from builders and developers in Dublin [cite web | title = Third Interim Report of Tribunal, 30 September 2002 | url = http://www.flood-tribunal.ie/images/SITECONTENT_220.pdf |work = The Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters & Payments| accessdate = 2006-08-12 ] when he was employed in the Planning Department of Dublin Corporation. The Tribunal concluded that payments estimated at £12,246 received by Redmond for advice in relation to Forrest Rd Swords were made in circumstances which amounted to an inducement to Redmond to act unfaithfully and in cicumstances that were detrimental to his professional duties - such a payment is corrupt.

The Mahon Tribunal

Redmond was investigated by The Flood Tribunal, subsequently known as The Mahon Tribunal and this revealed that he was lodging sums of money equivalent to multiples of his legitimate income in secret off-shore bank accounts. He had cash deposits in the Isle of Man of £350,000 and £194,000 when the Tribunal investigation got under way. He also operated bank accounts in Ireland using varying versions of his own name in English and Irish.

Redmond received a payment of £25,000 from James Gogarty but his admission of this to the Tribunal was seen as a tactic to divert attention for other payments he received from developers.

Redmond was also cited for impeding the work of the Tribunal through lies, misleading claims and denials.

Tax evasion

Redmond, has received a tax assessment from the Criminal Assets Bureau for over £500,000 in 1999 based on the identification of up to 20 bank accounts and the lodgements to these over a period of 20 years . The final liability could be in the region of £2 million allowing for interest and penalties [cite news | url =http://www.rte.ie/news/1999/0503/redmond.html|title = Redmond's tax assessment is over £500,000 | date = 1999-05-03 | publisher = RTÉ News | accessdate = 2006-08-12 ] .

Criminal Assets Bureau

The Criminal Assets Bureau raided his Castleknock home is February 1999 and discovered a draft letter purposting to be from a developer, Michael Bailey, for Dublin County Council implying that decisions Redmond was making were based on propsitions from a developer but were, in fact, based on his own strategy. Redmond was arrested by members of the Criminal Assets Bureau at Dublin Airport in March 1999 and found to be carrying £300,000 in cash and drafts.

Redmond was remanded on bail on March 16 2006 on a charge of receiving £10,000 between June 1985 and 1986 as an inducement for doing anything in respect of a compulsory purchase order by Dublin City Council on 167 acres of land at Bussardstown and Coolmine [cite news | url =http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/0317/4170580246HM4CTBOLDS.html |title = New date to be set for Redmond case | date = 2006-03-17 | publisher = The Irish Times | accessdate = 2006-08-12 ] .

Conviction

Redmond was convicted in November 2003 and jailed on two counts of corruption involving a £10,000 bribe from a garage owner relating to the sale of a right of way from Dublin County Council at the Lucan by pass [cite news | url = http://www.rte.ie/news/2003/1119/redmond.html | title = Redmond found guilty of corruption | date = 2003-11-19 | publisher = Radio Telefís Éireann | accessdate = 2006-08-11 ] . This conviction was quashed in July 2004 by the Court of Criminal Appeal on the grounds that had new evidence of bank accounts been available to the trial jury they might have had raised doubts therefore rendering the conviction unsafe [cite news | url = http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0728/redmondg.html | title = Redmond conviction quashed by appeal court
date = 2004-07-28 | publisher = Radio Telefís Éireann | accessdate = 2006-08-11 ] . A retrial was not ordered on the grounds that Redmond had served virtually all his sentence.

References

External links

* [http://www.flood-tribunal.ie/The Mahon Tribunal]