George Redmond's troubles began when he brought £300,000 through Dublin airport, writes PAUL CULLEN.
JUST AFTER 7pm on February 19th, 1999, a retired 74-year-old local authority official stepped off a plane from the Isle of Man and made his way through Dublin airport.
As he emerged into the arrivals hall, he was arrested by a team of detectives from the Criminal Assets Bureau.
So began over nine years of investigations, hearings, trials and tax settlements for George Redmond, once the most powerful official in local government in Dublin.
His bag was found to contain over £300,000 in cash and cheques, and in interrogation over the succeeding days, Mr Redmond told gardaí the money he was carrying came from "nixers" and consultancy work he did while he was assistant Dublin city and county manager.
He said he had received cash payments from builders, contractors and other businessmen and had opened a secret offshore account in the Isle of Man.
Mr Redmond told gardaí he got £10,000 from Patrick Dunne who was Fianna Fáil whip on Dublin county council in the 1980s.
"Pat Dunne paid me £10,000 in relation to a compulsory purchase of land in Buzzardstown owned by a man called Seagrave. I don't really know why I was paid the £10,000 but I accepted it."
He also told Cab officers he got a £5,000 cheque "out of the blue" from businessman Brendan Fassnidge. He said he believed this related to a purchase of land by the council which blocked the entrance to Mr Fassnidge's filling station. In September that year, Mr Redmond made his first appearance before the planning tribunal. Evidence emerged of massive amounts of money passing through his bank accounts, many of which were opened under fictitious names. He also kept large amount of cash at home; £35,000 in the bathroom and £12,000 in the kitchen. He put his financial success down to the fact that he was a "heavy saver".
However, he retracted his statement to gardaí about Mr Dunne and apologised to gardaí and Mr Dunne's family. He said he gave Mr Dunne's name as a "balance" to the others identified.
In April 2000, he was fined £7,500 for failing to make tax returns over 10 years. His lawyers claimed he was "effectively destitute" after paying the Revenue Commissioners £782,000 in tax, interest and penalties.
In December 2003, he was jailed for one year following his conviction at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for receiving a corrupt payment from Mr Fassnidge.
The following January, the tribunal published its report on Mr Redmond. This found that he received corrupt payments in the 1980s from businessman Joseph Murphy jnr and builder Mr Michael Bailey, and that he had hindered and obstructed the inquiry. Mr Justice Feargus Flood said that he had been secretly receiving "regular and substantial payments" from builders and developers for more than 28 years.
In July 2004, his conviction was quashed and he was released from Cloverhill Prison after serving eight months of his sentence. The Court of Criminal Appeal said new evidence showed that a crucial part of Mr Fassnidge's evidence was "simply wrong".
Last month, his trial began on two charges arising from a compulsory purchase order on the 167 acres of land at Buzzardstown in northwest Dublin. He denied receiving £10,000 from the late Mr Dunne as an inducement in relation to the order and to receiving the money as a reward for "showing favour to another" in relation to the same land.
The trial lasted 18 days, with at least six days taken up by legal argument in the absence of the jury. Mr Redmond, while present, was not called to give evidence before the jury.
Yesterday, the jury unanimously acquitted him of the second charge and failed to agree, even by a 10-1 majority, on the first. The DPP is expected to indicate next month whether he intends to begin a new prosecution on the one outstanding charge.