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Former Irish Premier gave false information to Mahon Tribunal.


DUBLIN — Former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern received at least
€209,779 ($276,000) in secret payments while in office and repeatedly
lied about this under oath, a mammoth fact-finding investigation ruled
Thursday in a long-awaited verdict.
The three judges led by Justice Alan Mahon stopped short of
finding Ahern guilty of corruption, because they found no evidence that
Ahern gave favors to any of his cash donors when he was finance minister
in the 1990s.They did find two other former lawmakers in Ahern’s Fianna Fail
party, including former Cabinet minister and European Union commissioner
Padraig Flynn, guilty of corrupt acts by soliciting payments from
property developers for personal use.While the report itself was a
fact-gathering effort and not a direct finding of any criminal
wrongdoing, Prime Minister Enda Kenny referred its contents to state
prosecutors, the national police force, tax collection authorities and
the 10-year-old Standards in Public Office Commission. Potential
offenses include corruption, obstruction of justice and tax evasion.No
Irish politicians have been convicted of corruption, only a local
government planning official, as a result of the past 15 years of
investigations into the bribery culture at the heart of Irish property
development. Prosecutions are hampered, in part, by the fact that the
government passed no credible anti-bribery laws until 1996, leaving tax
evasion as the only readily proven offense.Ahern, whose often
bizarre and implausible 2007 testimony enraptured the nation, denied
doing anything wrong but resigned from office in 2008 after 11 years in
power. He was not at his Dublin home Thursday but issued a brief
statement saying he was reading the report.


Key Findings:

Corruption affected 'every level of Irish political life'


Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern failed to "truthfully" explain source of money


Tribunal rejects Ahern's evidence of "dig-outs"


Former EU Commissioner Pádraig Flynn "wrongly and corruptly" sought donation from Tom Gilmartin


Liam Lawlor accepted 'inappropriate and corrupt payments' from Arlington PLC


Liam Lawlor's involvement with landowners/developers rendered him "hopelessly compromised"


Owen O'Callaghan paid £1.8m to Frank Dunlop over 10 years


Former Fianna Fáil TD GV Wright received a IR£5,000 "corrupt" payment from Christopher Jones


Findings of corruption made against 11 councillors -
Fianna Fáil's Finbarr Hanrahan, Cyril Gallagher and GV Wright, Fine
Gael's Tom Hand, Labour's John O'Halloran and Independent Pat Dunne.
Five cannot be named because they are before the courts
Corruption affected "every level of Irish political life and was allowed to continue unabated"


Government to refer report to Garda Commissioner, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Revenue Commissioners and to the Standards in Public Office Commission

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