The conviction of Mr George Redmond, a former assistant Dublin city and county manager, on two charges of corruption has been declared unsafe and unsatisfactory by the Court of Criminal Appeal. Newly discovered evidence, the Court found, would have raised the possibility of a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury.
Because of that, it set aside both convictions and decided against a re-trial on the basis that Mr Redmond had already served virtually all of a 12-month sentence.
The decisions by the Court in this high-profile case are a credit to the impartial nature of our judicial system. Having reviewed all aspects of the case, it found the new material undermined the evidence of a key prosecution witness and it drew the necessary conclusions. That clarity and pace of judgment stands in unhappy contrast with the manner in which the State responded to requests for production of the evidence that caused the conviction to be quashed. It took five months for the Garda and the Director of Public Prosecutions to supply the material to Mr Redmond's lawyers. Given the 12-month sentence, that delay was unacceptable. Justice must be seen to be done. And the finding of criminal guilt must be beyond a reasonable doubt.
Citizens wrongly convicted and imprisoned are deserving of public sympathy. But while Mr Redmond's convictions have been set aside, he says he has not thought about seeking compensation for unlawful imprisonment. And he will not undergo a re-trial. He will, however, face further criminal charges, based on investigations by the Flood tribunal and the Criminal Assets Bureau. The second report by that tribunal, which was withheld pending the outcome of Mr Redmond's original trial, found the former assistant city and county planner had received corrupt payments from property developers Mr Joseph Murphy Jnr and Mr Michael Bailey and that the two men, along with Mr Frank Reynolds, had hindered and obstructed the work of the tribunal.
Serious difficulties exist in bringing successful prosecutions for fraud and corruption relating to events some years ago because of the need to provide direct evidence from persons giving or receiving bribes. That may explain why, in spite of various reports identifying corruption within the planning system, prosecutions have concentrated on tax evasion. In that regard, a former minister for justice, Mr Ray Burke, awaits sentence.
The Director of Public Prosecutions has not initiated prosecutions against those wealthy individuals who were found to have lied in evidence and misled the tribunals. Last year, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, spoke of his intention to modernise the law on perjury to address this issue, but nothing happened. In the meantime, the authority of the tribunals has been further damaged by the amnesia and lies of a succession of witnesses. Vigorous and early action is required to defend the rule of law and to punish those who behave as if they are above it.