Evidence in the trial of a former Fine Gael politician accused of accepting corrupt payments had told a rather sordid tale of “jealousy, anger, and rage,” the ex-councillor’s lawyer said yesterday.

A former Fine Gael town councillor has told a corruption trial that the mother of his estranged wife told him she would “stab him to death” if he did not repay €10,000 he had borrowed from her daughter.

A loan agreement, dated Aug 2006 and signed by a former councillor accused of accepting corrupt payments and a developer, was not created until Jan 2007, according to gardaí.

A former Fine Gael councillor told gardaí he asked a property developer for a loan of €70,000 at a time when his marriage was breaking up, his business was failing and he was behind with his mortgage.

Hell hath no fury like a councillor’s wife scorned.

The wife of a former town councillor accused of receiving €80,000 in corrupt payments has denied in court that “revenge” was her motive for telling a TD and gardaí about her “suspicions” about her husband.

A Fine Gael TD went to the gardaí as a result of a conversation he had with the wife of a party colleague who is now charged with accepting corrupt payments totalling €80,000, a court heard yesterday.

A FORMER Co Waterford town councillor, who arrived in Ireland for a wedding over the weekend, was arrested and appeared in court yesterday on corruption charges.