Redmond in clear
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George Redmond is unlikely to ever again face criminal charges of corruption after walking free from a court yesterday.
The 83-year-old was cleared on one charge of corruption but the jury "disagreed" on another, meaning the case could still be re-run at a later date.
But sources told the Irish Independent last night it was "almost certain" the Director of Public Prosecutions would now let the matter rest.
He will make a final decision in June.
Outside the court after being told by a judge he was "free to go", a visibly shaken Mr Redmond, the former Dublin assistant county manager, said: "I'm relieved."
The trial marked the end of a nine-year legal fight which stretched from Mr Redmond's arrest at Dublin Airport on February 20, 1999 with £300,000 in cash and cheques in a holdall.
He was subsequently charged with corruptly accepting £10,000 from Fianna Fail councillor Pat Dunne, money he told gardai he accepted.
Mr Redmond told gardai in one of five voluntary statements he got the cash from the Fianna Fail whip on Dublin County Council at the time.
"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."
But a year later, in May 2000, he retracted the admission under oath at the Flood (now Mahon) Tribunal, saying he had lied to CAB and he apologised to Dunne's family.
The prosecution had claimed the file on the land purchase "spoke for itself" as Mr Redmond, initially reluctant to buy the land, later signed the order to buy it outright for £2.5m at a time when council funds were tight.
His tax returns also showed a reference to a payment from someone with the initials PD. Defence counsel, led by Brendan Grehan, said there was no evidence Mr Redmond had acted improperly.
Yesterday a jury found him not guilty of receiving a £10,000 bribe from the late Mr Dunne, "as a reward for showing favour to another" in relation to a compulsory purchase order (CPO) on 167 acres of land at Buzzardstown and Coolmine, in Dublin when he was an assistant county manager.
Later, the jury foreman told Judge Joseph Matthews it was unable to reach the required majority of 10-1 on the second charge that Mr Redmond got the money "as an inducement" in respect of the CPO.
Mr Redmond, of College Gate, Castleknock, Dublin, who retired from public service in June 1989, had pleaded not guilty to the two charges of receiving the £10,000 from the late Mr Dunne on a date between October 10, 1985, and June 26, 1989. The CPO was made in 1980.
The Director of Public Prosecutions will announce next month if a further trial will be held on the outstanding charge.
Mr Redmond was fined £7,500 on April 13, 2000, for failing to make tax returns over 10 years. Judge Frank O'Donnell imposed the fine after Mr Redmond pleaded guilty to 10 charges of failing to make tax returns for the years 1988 to 1998.
Defence counsel Patrick MacEntee said then that Mr Redmond retired from the public service in June 1989 and was "effectively destitute" after paying the Revenue Commissioners £782,000 in tax, interest and penalties.
Judge O'Donnell imposed fines of £500 on each of the first five charges and £1,000 on the second five and gave him three months to pay the total of £7,500. The charges arose from his arrest at Dublin Airport.
He was convicted in November 2003 and jailed on two counts of corruption involving an alleged £10,000 bribe from a garage owner relating to the sale of a right of way from Dublin County Council. The conviction was later quashed.
- Ciaran Byrne and Conor Gallagher
