Redmond denied legal aid for appeal

GEORGE REDMOND was denied legal aid yesterday despite his claims that he is in debt to the tune of €150,000.

The 80-year-old former Dublin Assistant City and Council Manager will have to fund his legal battle against corruption convictions, despite his pleas of impoverishment.

Redmond, who has been in Cloverhill Prison since last December, claims a family member had to pay a number of legal bills for him.

He also told the Court of Criminal Appeal in Dublin he and his wife were forced to live off a pension of around €1,500 per fortnight. The court heard however, that Redmond had in the region of €30,000 in savings.

The Mahon planning tribunal’s third interim report, published earlier this year, identified Mr Redmond as having received a number of corrupt payments and said he had hindered and obstructed its work.

Redmond settled with the Criminal Assets Bureau and the Revenue in early 2000 for about €990,000 on foot of a potential tax liability.

Redmond’s legal team claimed yesterday that there was new evidence available to overturn the corruption convictions.

Lawyers argued complete bank records from the late 1980s would now cast doubt on the former planning official’s guilt. Redmond was found guilty of receiving a £10,000 bribe from garage owner Brendan Fassnidge relating to the sale of a right of way by Dublin County Council near the Lucan bypass in the late 1980s.

Brendan Grehan SC told the Court of Criminal Appeal Redmond’s conviction could be appealed for three reasons and he was also seeking to introduce bank statements.

He said the original trial should have been halted because Redmond had been denigrated, and gained so much notoriety in the media that no lay person could come to court with an open mind. Mr Grehan added the warning the trial judge had given to the jury was inadequate and that Redmond had acquired a generalised reputation for corruption on a grand scale.

He also claimed the introduction into evidence of a statement made by Redmond that he had received a cheque for £5,000 was involuntary.

The three appeal court judges adjourned until this morning to consider the new evidence before making a decision on whether or not to grant the appeal.

Patrick McCarthy SC, opposing the appeal, said Redmond’s legal team had made a tactical decision not to call for the full bank records to be introduced at the time of the original trial.