THE REMAINING criminal charge against George Redmond has been dropped by the State.
Pauline Walley SC told Judge Katherine Delahunt yesterday that the Director of Public Prosecutions had instructed her to enter a nolle prosequi on the outstanding charge against the former assistant Dublin city and county manager, who turns 84 later this month.
The trial arose out of Mr Redmond's arrest on February 19th 1999 at Dublin airport when he arrived from the Isle of Man carrying a bag holding bundles of Irish and Sterling notes and four stockbroker cheques with a total value of about £300,000. A jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last month found him not guilty of receiving £10,000 from the late Fianna Fáil councillor Mr Patrick Dunne "as a reward for showing favour to another".
The jury failed to reach a verdict on the related charge that Mr Redmond received the money as "as an inducement" in respect of a compulsory purchase order.
It is this charge which will not now be re-entered.
Speaking outside the court yesterday, Mr Redmond made a renewed defence of his actions.
"Nothing ever happened in planning while I was there," he said. "The real activity was on the planning board."
Although the planning tribunal found in 2004 that he had taken four corrupt payments from developers, Mr Redmond insisted yesterday that the planning assistance he gave was within the law.
"I think I did a lot more good than harm. I helped people and put a lot of them on the straight road."
However he admitted that his good name was "in tatters". "Former friends, when they see me, move around me and look in a different direction. That's the most painful aspect."
The decision by the DPP to enter a nolle prosequi in the remaining charge was "more or less as I expected," he said, as the charge, on which a jury failed to agree after his trial last month, differed little from the other charge on which he was found not guilty.
The announcement brought to an end Mr Redmond's 10-year entanglement with the tribunal, the Garda, the Criminal Assets Bureau and the Revenue Commissioners. During that time, he has made a substantial tax settlement with the Revenue and served almost 12 months in jail on a corruption charge that was later quashed.
Mr Redmond said that as a result of the pressure from Cab, he had been forced to sell his house when its value was low and had paid more than €1 million in back taxes.
