George Redmond
Encyclopedia
George Redmond was Assistant City and County Manager until his retirement on 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
Dublin Corporation
Dublin Corporation , known by generations of Dubliners simply as The Corpo, is the former name given to the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin between 1661 and 1 January 2002...

 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 1960s been in receipt of regular and substantial payments from builders and developers in Dublin 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
Swords, Dublin
Swords is the county town of Fingal in Ireland. It is about 13 km north of Dublin city centre and is part of its commuter belt.- History :...

 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
The Mahon Tribunal
The Tribunal of Inquiry Into Certain Planning Matters and Payments, commonly known as the Mahon Tribunal, is a public inquiry in Ireland established by Dáil Éireann in 1997 to investigate allegations of corrupt payments to politicians regarding political decisions...

 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
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...

 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
Criminal Assets Bureau
The Criminal Assets Bureau is a law enforcement agency in Ireland, the purpose of which is to recover the proceeds of organised crime. It is a division of the Garda , but reports annually to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform...

 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.

Criminal Assets Bureau

The Criminal Assets Bureau
Criminal Assets Bureau
The Criminal Assets Bureau is a law enforcement agency in Ireland, the purpose of which is to recover the proceeds of organised crime. It is a division of the Garda , but reports annually to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform...

 raided his Castleknock
Castleknock
Castleknock is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is in the west of the modern administrative county of Fingal within the traditional county of Dublin. It is located west of the centre of Dublin....

 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
Dublin City Council
Dublin City Council is the local authority for the city of Dublin in Ireland. It has 52 members and is the largest local authority in Ireland. Until 2001, it was known as Dublin Corporation.-Legal status:...

 on 167 acre (0.67582562 km²) of land at Bussardstown and Coolmine.

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
Dublin County Council
Dublin County Council was a local authority for the administrative county of County Dublin in the Republic of Ireland. It was established by the Local Government Act 1898....

 at the Lucan by-pass
Bypass (road)
A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety....

. 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. A retrial was not ordered on the grounds that Redmond had served virtually all his sentence.

External links

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