As the Flood tribunal prepares to resume after its summer break it has emerged that the Criminal Assets Bureau has agreed that documents belonging to the former assistant Dublin city and county manager, Mr George Redmond, can be opened by the tribunal.
On August 4th, the sole member of the tribunal, Mr Justice Flood, ruled that the CAB did not have privilege over the documents and said they should be handed over to the tribunal.
Mr Justice Flood said at the time that the CAB had made it clear that it intended to challenge his ruling in the High Court. However, sources confirmed yesterday that the CAB had agreed to drop its objections and was not planning legal action. It is understood that the CAB believes its chances of having Mr Justice Flood's ruling overturned are slim.
The Sunday Tribune yesterday quoted security sources as saying that the CAB had no intention of taking a case over the Redmond documents.
The handing over of the files to the tribunal is expected to significantly widen the scope of its investigations. The tribunal's legal team will resume its work tomorrow in private, with public hearings expected to resume in the middle of September.
The files are understood to contain information relating to the Quarryvale shopping development in west Dublin and various planning matters going back to the early 1970s. They also contain extensive records of Mr Redmond's financial dealings.
Mr Justice Flood has already examined some of the files, which were brought into the tribunal in sealed boxes. After seeing them he said: "In my view, significant portions of the material I viewed in those two boxes are crucial to the work of this inquiry. I am also satisfied that it is essential for the proper discharge of the mandate of the tribunal that the tribunal has access to this copy documentation."
The CAB first claimed privilege over the documents on April 16th, saying that handing them over would prejudice its own investigations. It seized the documents from Mr Redmond's home last February on the day he was arrested at Dublin Airport with £300,000 in cash. He was returning from the Isle of Man.
The CAB's chief officer, Chief Supt Fachtna Murphy, told the tribunal last April that he had consulted the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Eamonn Barnes, on March 1st. As a result of this consultation he believed it would not be appropriate to release the material.
Despite this, Mr Justice Flood ruled against the CAB, which then went to the High Court on the grounds that a tribunal had no jurisdiction to decide a claim of privilege. The High Court dismissed this view and the Supreme Court upheld its judgment.
In August, Chief Supt Murphy said that the Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, was fully behind the CAB's stance and had been regularly consulted.
When the tribunal resumes next month it will continue with the James Gogarty strand of its investigations. Mr Tom Bailey, of Bovale Developments, is expected to be one of the first witnesses to appear. It will also have to decide whether to travel to Jersey to interview Mr Joseph Murphy snr.