Author: Anthony

For the record

This case is so serious it is appropriate to put details on the record

The Frank Shortt case as reported on RTEs Drivetime (1st item) 21st March 2007

Donegal accountant Frank Shortt tried convicted and jailed on the perjured evidence of two Gardai. The now 72 old was awarded damages of €4.6 million

The Chief Justice said Frank Shortt had been the victim of the disreputable conduct and the shocking abuse of power by two Gardai, Superintendent Kevin Lenihan and Detective Garda Noel McMahon.

The following is how Justice Hardiman described the case.

This is the most serious, tragic and alarming case. It has been before the courts now in one form or another for nearly fourteen years. The plaintiff appellant Mr. Francis Shortt was framed by Gardai on drug offences in 1995 and given a three year sentence. His life was almost totally ruined and he was reduced to a state of despair.

At that nadir of his fortunes he found the strength to reject an offer of early release on the condition that he dropped his appeal and thereby acknowledged his guilt. The court has heard no explanation of how, why and on whose authority this offer came to be made to him.

He lost his first appeal. After a long struggle conducted by dedicated legal advisors the prosecution quite suddenly and without any substantive explanation consented to his conviction being quashed in November 2000, some years after his release. After another interval of years in July 2002 he succeeded after a long hearing in having the conviction declared a miscarriage of justice.

His application for this declaration was opposed with perjured evidence by Gardai. The court is now concerned with the question of compensation for the plaintiff; the victim of what the authorities conceded on this appeal was the worst known example of oppression of a citizen by the State.

On the State apology to Mr. Shortt

This apology was tendered some 14 years after the start of the chain of events which led to Mr. Shortt being wrongfully convicted of drug offences on the basis of consciously false Gardai evidence. Eleven years after he was sentenced, five and a half years after his conviction was quashed by the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and just under four years after the declaration by the court of criminal appeal that his conviction was a miscarriage of justice.

The apology was both belated and limited in the sense that no apology of any kind was offered until the surprise of the court at its absence was made clear the previous day. The apology is carefully drafted, does not refer to Mr. Shortt’s innocence and does not purport to be offered on behalf of An Garda Siochana. The plaintiff accepted it in words both dignified and pointed in the spirit in which it was offered.

Why substantial exemplary damages should be awarded.

I firmly believe that in the public interest a very substantial sum must be awarded under this heading in order to make an example of the wrongdoers here. The enormous power conferred on the Gardai, partly by law and partly by the often well deserved trust of the public make what happened in this case nothing less than an obscenity.

These Gardai were out of control. The whole affair graphically illustrates Mr. Justice Morris’ conclusion that the Gardai are losing their status as a disciplined force. What Gardai did to Mr. Shortt was so outrageous as almost to defy description but the Gardai force has yet to admit this.

The former Gardai Representative Association representative in Donegal told the Morris Inquiry, speaking of internal disciplinary procedures, ‘It is the nature of the Gardai, we don’t name the names, we don’t want to get anybody into trouble in the Garda Siochana internal matters. We try our best to make sure that we’re not going to be hanging our people.’

The outrageousness of what was done, the very long period required to discover it, the failure of An Garda Siochana itself expressly to acknowledge and apologise for the misdeeds of its members and the grave risk to society as a whole if Gardai behave as some of those involved in this case behaved render it absolutely necessary to make a substantial award of exemplary damages.

If there were no such award I firmly believe that the courts would be making themselves part of the problem rather than part of the solution. What happened to Mr. Shortt boggles the mind and almost defeats the imagination. A very significant award is necessary in order to make an example of the wrongdoers in a serious way in the public interest.

The corrupt policemen have never been charged

In the past week…

In the past week we learned…

Business corruption

That the financial services group, Friends First defrauded a customer of up to €500,000. The company admitted the fraud but claimed that the customer was not at any loss. They did not report the crime to the police but did inform the Financial Regulator.

The regulator did not inform the police of this crime and failed to properly inform consumers of the dangers of doing business with Friends First.

The victim of this crime, retired businessman John O’Mahony, did not get justice and nobody seems to think this fact is of any importance.

Political corruption

Galway Cllr Michael Fahy was convicted of obtaining €7,000 by false pretences in 2002 and the attempted theft of €7,500 in 2003 as well as five other charges of deception and false accounting.

This type of corruption is common in Ireland but we also learned that the then County Manager, Donal O’Donaghue took the law into his own hands and acted as judge and jury. He made the corrupt Cllr, pay back the money, fined him €3,000 and did not report the crime to the police.

When all this came out in the subsequent trial nobody seems to have thought that covering up a serious crime was of any importance.

Police corruption

Two policemen are enjoying the same freedom as any other citizen even though they ruthlessly destroyed the life, family and finances of an innocent citizen by conspiring to frame him for a serious crime which resulted in him serving a long prison sentence.

The court acknowledged the seriousness of the crime by describing it as “the worst known oppression of a citizen by the State”.

Yet, it is highly unlikely that the corrupt policemen will even be arrested never mind actually stand trial, in fact one of them was promoted before being allowed retire on full benefits and pension.

The judges collectively punished innocent Irish citizens by fining the State €4.6 million for the crimes of the policemen.

Nobody seems to think that allowing corrupt policemen to retire without any sanction whatsoever is of any importance.

None of these cases are seen as particularly unusual because all those involved; the victims, the perpetrators, the state systems and citizens in general all live and work in a country that is itself a corrupt entity.

Generally speaking, Irish people are unaware that such events are seen as abnormal in properly accountable jurisdictions.

A contemptible institution

Dail Eireann, The National Parliament of the Irish people, is a farce, a joke institution. It’s an institution that I personally hold in absolute contempt and I am convinced that the great majority of Irish people feel the same. It’s nothing more than an ineffective talking shop that has no relevance whatsoever to the every day worries of the average Irish citizen.

Nothing exemplifies the worthlessness of this institution better than an incident that took place there yesterday (RTE News, 5th item). The new Criminal Justice Bill was being debated. This bill will make serious changes in the law concerning mandatory sentencing, bail and most crucially the right to silence.

While opposition TDs were asking questions and making criticisms of the bill Michael McDowell, Minister for Justice and Tanaiste who is the author of this bill and who, at the time, was representing our Prime Minister in our Parliament – was doing a crossword puzzle.

As I said, a contemptuous institution that deserves nothing but derision.

A police force out of control

It was only last week that the Garda Representative Association held a special meeting to express their anger at the treatment of one of their members by sections of the media. They felt so strongly about this insult to one of their members that they decided to organise a boycott of the particular newspapers involved.

The Garda Commissioner himself felt so angry about the incident that he described it as “Disgusting, insensitive and hurtful.”

Yesterday, innocent Irish tax payers were fined a total of €4.6 million because of the criminal behaviour of a number of members of this force. In a ruthless conspiracy to gain promotion they destroyed the life of Frank Shortt and his family with consequences best described by one of the judges.

“A tormenting saga of imprisonment, mental and physical deterioration, estrangement from family, loss of business, public and professional ignominy and despair”.

Another judge made the following comments

“These Gardai were out of control. The whole affair graphically illustrates Mr. Justice Morris’ conclusion that the Gardai are losing their status as a disciplined force.”

“What happened in this case is nothing less than an obscenity.”

“The outrageousness of what was done, the very long period required to discover it, the failure of An Garda Siochana itself expressly to acknowledge and apologise for the misdeeds of its members and the grave risk to society as a whole if Gardai behave as some of those involved in this case behaved render it absolutely necessary to make a substantial award of exemplary damages.”

So how have the Garda Commissioner, the Garda Representative Association and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors reacted to this outrage? – SILENCE.

Judge Morris is right; this is a police force out of control.

Law enforcement, Star Trek and baby soothers

RTEs Prime Time did a piece on the brutal war in Iraq last night. This can make for depressing viewing so I was delighted that some enlightened producer decided to follow up with a great comedy sketch.

This involved an interview with Ann Fitzgerald, chairperson of the National Consumer Agency. This new agency has taken over from the old Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs (Who comes up with these titles?) headed by Carmel Foley.
Carmel was famous for her obsession with slapping €100 fines on multi-million profit pubs for not displaying proper price lists.

Ms Fitzgerald, in true Star Trek tradition, announced that she is going to go where no one has gone before on behalf of the consumer.

Miriam O’Callaghan asked what she going to do about corrupt management companies. (See here for analysis of this particular skullduggery)

According to Ms Fitzgerald there’s half a million people having trouble in this area but legislation won’t be available for two or three years so in the meantime the NCA has set up a forum – to talk about it.

Everybody is aware of the ruthless manner in which many developers abandon unfinished sites and move on to the next lucrative deal. (See here for analysis)

Ms. Fitzgerald expressed genuine puzzlement at the non implementation of a law that allows local authorities to refuse planning to such rogue developers. All I can say is; bless her innocence.

The NCA will be operating on a budget of €8.5 million and a handful of staff. With this paltry sum we are assured they will take on and defeat the powerful and the corrupt.

Developers like the tax evading Bailey Brothers, who recently made a €22 million tax settlement with Revenue will be shaking in their boots and I’m sure the Irish financial sector is agog with fear and panic.

When Miriam pointed that we’ve had ineffective toothless agencies for years Ms Fitzgerald brought in the heavy artillery.

She was going to name and shame, she was going to fine shops on the spot that didn’t display prices and she was going to seek undertakings from businesses that didn’t treat consumers fairly.

It was at this point I reached for the brandy.

To get a real sense of the power and determination of this new colossus of Irish law enforcement I strongly recommend a peek at their website. There you can participate in a quiz and read all about the dramatic recall of a Ladybird infants book and a Smyths Toys baby soother.

No, really, I’m not joking

Deals and 'arrangements' – all very normal

At first glance, the case of Cllr. Michael Fahy dealt with today at the Circuit Criminal Court in Galway today, is straight forward.

Cllr Fahy was convicted of obtaining €7,000 by false pretences in 2002 and the attempted theft of €7,500 in 2003 as well as five other charges of deception and false accounting. But as always in Ireland there is more to the story than meets the eye.

Fahy committed the fraud in 2001 and when council engineers suspected something was wrong an internal investigation was initiated which found that the Council was out to the tune of €7,000. In a properly functioning jurisdiction the next step would be to inform the police. But as with the Friends First fraud, (See below) that is not how things are done in Ireland.

Instead, Cllr. Fahy was summoned by the County Manager in Galway County Council, Donal O’Donaghue and told that he would have to repay the €7,000. In addition, because of what he had done, he would have to make a contribution to a local charity.

In other words, the theft of €7,000 of taxpayer’s money by a local politician was being covered up by the local authority. In a properly functioning jurisdiction this ‘arrangement’ would be seen and dealt with as a serious crime in itself.

Cllr. Fahy repaid the €7,000 and donated €3,000 to the local Lourdes Invalid Fund and there the matter rested.

In June 2004, Brian McDonald, West of Ireland correspondent for the Irish Independent, got wind of the story and submitted an FOI request for documents concerning Cllr. Michael Fahy – The story was out.

Once again, justice was only done because of good investigative journalism. What I find amazing is how the massive elephant in the room can be ignored. Time after time corruption is covered up, arrangements are made, deals are done and, for the most part, all this is seen as perfectly normal.

Irish Financial Regulator – Betraying the consumer

The core claim at the heart of this blog is the assertion that Ireland is a corrupt state. Every country in the world suffers to one degree or another from the disease of corruption but some countries are in themselves corrupt entities.

The failure of a state to take proper and effective action when corruption is uncovered is one of the clearest indicators that it is a corrupt entity. Last Friday, RTEs Investigative Unit, headed by journalist Philip Boucher-Hayes provided us with a perfect example of how the Irish State fails in this regard and as a consequence, protects the corrupt.

THE FRAUD: In the early 1990s retired business man, John O’Mahony contacted a Mr. Stephen Donnelly of Friends First about investing £750,000. Mr. Donnelly was only cleared to guarantee a rate of 28% over five years but in order to get the business he forged a policy document guaranteeing Mr. O’Mahony 40% with a bonus on termination depending on how the policy performed.

When the policy matured in 2002, Mr. Donnelly convinced Mr. O’Mahony to roll over his investment into a new policy so it wasn’t until 2005 that Mr. O’Mahony found out that he had been defrauded. When O’Mahony confronted Donnelly he made a written confession of guilt and when all the information was given to Friends First Mr. O’Mahony was told that if everything he said was true their next phone call would be to the fraud squad.

At this point, in a law enforcing jurisdiction, the police would be called, there would be an investigation and if sufficient evidence was produced the case would be processed through the courts. In a law enforcing jurisdiction Mr. Donnelly would almost certainly have gone to jail and, at the very least, Friends First would have suffered severe sanctions.

THE REACTION: Here’s what happened in corrupt Ireland. Friends First knew of the fraud in February 2005. Two months later they informed the Financial Regulator. Nearly two years later, (Yes, two years) just coming up to Christmas 2006 (20th December) the regulator quietly announced on its website that Mr. Donnelly had been disqualified from acting as a director of a financial services provider for five years. There was no mention of fraud, no mention of forged letters, no mention of the sums of money involved and most notably there was no mention of police involvement.

AFTERMATH AND CONSEQUENCES: Mr. O’Mahony is a victim of fraud by Friends First. According to his figures he is still owed about €250,000 but he is in poor health and Friends First, who are aware of his health problems, have indicated that they will strongly contest any legal action. He has indicated that he is unlikely to put himself through the trauma of lengthy legal proceedings.

Friends First acknowledge that the fraud took place but incredibly they claim that Mr. O’Mahony suffered no loss and penalised him (legally) €25,000 for early withdrawal of his investment. (Necks don’t come much harder than that)

The fraudster, Stephen Donnelly has not suffered any punishment, although to his credit, he has attempted to make good the loss and to date has repaid €170,000. He currently sits on the board of Arley Ltd., a Friends First property company. He sits in company with two Friends First directors who are apparently happy to be associated with a self-confessed fraudster.

The most serious aspect of this case is the failure of the so called Financial Regulator to protect and inform consumers. This government organisation

• failed in its duty to protect the interests of a consumer who was defrauded of his hard earned money.
• It apparently failed in its duty to report an alleged criminal offence to the police.
• It failed in its duty to inform and warn consumers that a major financial services group was happy to tolerate a self confessed fraudster on its staff
• It failed in its duty to inform current customers and potential investors of the low standards of honesty at Friends First.

Different standards of outrage

Members of the Garda Siochana have a right to be upset at how some sections of the media treated the recent death of Sergeant Tania Corcoran and her son. The reporting of Sgt. Corcoran’s death while giving birth was, as Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy said, “disgusting, insensitive and hurtful.”

There is, however, a stark contrast between this case and how the Gardai and in particular the powerful Garda Representative Association (GRA) react to Garda wrongdoing and corruption.

It is reported in today’s Irish Examiner that the GRA held a meeting to discuss the media coverage of Sgt. Corcoran’s death. It was agreed at the meeting to send a directive to every garda station in the country, effectively calling for a boycott of the Sunday Independent, the Irish Independent and the Mail on Sunday newspapers.

In recent years we have witnessed wholesale corruption in the force, ranging from bullying and incompetence to widespread perjury, indiscipline, insubordination, planting of evidence and even the framing of innocent citizens for murder.

Very few members of the force have been brought to justice for their crimes and the GRA has played a significant role in bringing about this state of affairs.

Journalist, Jim Cusack, in an excellent article on Garda corruption, tells us that the GRA is “Now perceived by Government as the main block to imposing order in the Garda Siochana.”

As I have said, the treatment of Sgt. Corcoran by sections of the media was wrong but it is difficult to take seriously the outrage expressed by the Garda Representative Association while the organisation remains in denial about the wrongdoing of its own members.

Secrecy and control – Breeding ground for corruption

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) is not an organisation I would normally find myself defending.

For far too long they have enjoyed a position of absolute power and privilege within the health system and so the Minister for Health, Mary Harney is right to insist on a new, more equitable, public contract with its members.

However, the insistence of a gagging clause in the new contract is just the latest example of an administration taking every opportunity to increase its powers of secrecy and control. Powers that are crucial for the manipulation of information in a corrupt state.

Here are some quotes taken from today’s Irish Times.

(Consultants) have to seek permission from new clinical directors before commenting in public on hospital services.

(Consultants) have to seek the approval of the clinical director before engaging personally in any further advocacy

…prevent consultants from divulging or discussing “hospital business” and information on staff or patients without authority except in the performance of their duty.

…that no-one else in the health service has the right to speak out publicly without official approval

Consultants’ traditional clinical autonomy will have to be circumscribed to a degree.

The aim here is to install a line of faceless unaccountable bureaucrats between doctors, and the general public in order to manipulate information about a third world health system rampant with corruption and incompetence.

Bizarrely, management is expected to claim that all this secrecy and control is for the patients own good, to protect them from rogue doctors like Michael Neary. The reality is, of course, that secrecy breeds corruption, incompetence and bad practice.