Former FG councillor found guilty on corruption charges

A FORMER Fine Gael town councillor has been remanded on bail for sentencing after he was found guilty of six counts of corruption relating to his acceptance of a total of €80,000 from a property developer seeking to have lands rezoned in Co Waterford.

Fred Forsey jnr (43) started to tremble and weep in the dock as the forewoman of the jury replied “guilty” when she was asked by the registrar at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court how did it find Forsey with regard to each of the six charges against him on the indictment.

Forsey had denied corruptly accepting sums of €60,000, €10,000 and €10,000 as inducements or rewards while a member of Dungarvan Town Council to make representations to officials and members of Waterford County Council in support of a proposed development which was the subject of a planning application.

He had also denied three further charges of corruptly accepting the same sums of €60,000, €10,000 and €10,000 as inducements or rewards while a member of Dungarvan Town Council and speaking at a meeting of Dungarvan Town Council in support of a proposed development which was the subject of a planning application.

However, the jury of eight men and four women took just two hours and 27 minutes to find Forsey, Coolagh Road, Abbeyside, Dungarvan, unanimously guilty of all counts, thereby securing what is believed to be the first conviction in the history of the State of a public representative for corruption.

Forsey was prosecuted under section 1 and section 4 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.

As amended by section 2 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 2001, he could face a fine and/or up to 10 years’ imprisonment when he is sentenced for the offences by Judge Gerard Griffin next Thursday.

Having remained calm and composed throughout the eight-day trial, Forsey looked completely shocked in court as he made his way from the dock to be embraced by his partner, Karen Morrissey, and other family members.

They had shaken their heads in disbelief as the jury returned its verdicts on the charges.

A Garda investigation into Forsey was initiated in April 2007 when Forsey’s former wife Jenny contacted local Fine Gael TD John Deasy – whom Forsey had replaced on Dungarvan Town Council – to tell him of how her husband had received payments totalling €80,000 from a wealthy developer.

Mr Deasy organised a meeting with Garda Supt Tom O’Grady. An investigation saw gardaí obtain bank records which showed a sum of €60,000 had been lodged into Forsey’s account from the property developer’s account on August 25th, 2006.

Two sums of €10,000 were similarly transferred to his account on October 10th and December 22nd, 2006.

Throughout interviews with gardaí following his arrest on July 31st, 2009, Forsey – who resigned his seat on Dungarvan Town Council on June 27th, 2007 – maintained the money he received from the developer was an unsecured loan to help him clear debts, which he had always intended repaying.

It was a position with which he persevered through his two days of evidence in the witness box,

Under cross-examination he insisted that when he had acknowledged to gardaí that the loan involved “no free meal”, he was referring to the fact that he would have to pay interest on the sums given to him.