Mr George Redmond told the tribunal yesterday that he lied to gardai when he told them the late Fianna Fail councillor, Mr Pat Dunne, gave him £10,000 to sign a compulsory purchase order (CPO) for lands in west Dublin.
In a signed statement to gardai on March 19th, 1999, Mr Redmond claimed that Mr Dunne ail chief whip on Dublin County Council - paid him the sum in return for signing the CPO, under which Dublin County Council acquired a 200-acre site at Buzzardstown, near Blanchardstown, for £1.35 million.
Mr Redmond said he wished to retract the statement and apologise sincerely to the Garda as well as Mr Dunne's family and estate.
The retraction came shortly after Mr Redmond had been warned by Mr Justice Flood that he faced prosecution if he was found to be telling untruths to the tribunal.
Mr Redmond said he could not explain why he told the lie to gardai. "I am not going to say I was mischievous," he said before his voice trailed off.
Counsel for the tribunal, Mr Des O'Neill SC, pressed Mr Redmond further as to why he failed to give gardai the names of three people whom he identified yesterday as donors.
Mr Redmond replied that it was difficult to disclose names. "That is the nature of the beast," he said.
Earlier, Mr Justice Flood said he found it "almost unbelievable" that Mr Redmond could not recollect details of "unauthorised" payments made to him throughout the 1980s.
Mr Redmond said he could not be specific about any payments made between 1981 and 1987, during which time his income rose from £300,000 to £600,000.
But Mr Justice Flood said "I find that extremely difficult to accept. You are a man who, according to your (1988) diary . . . knew it [your financial situation] to the last penny . . ." He urged Mr Redmond to "kindly get down to reality by telling us exactly what happened". Mr Justice Flood later adjourned the tribunal for 10 minutes and told Mr Redmond to use the opportunity to reflect with his counsel over the manner in which he was answering questions.
Mr Flood said he was not impressed by what Mr Redmond was saying and he reminded the witness that he had statutory powers to refer papers to the Director of Public Prosecutions if he was satisfied the witness was not telling the truth.
Mr Redmond had been asked for details of payments for each year between 1981 and 1987. He accepted money he saved had been invested at standard rates and, therefore, much of the £300,000 earned in that period was from "extra-mural" payments. However, he said he had kept no record of the amounts paid to him or the donors. All he had was "a recollection".
He said this recollection could have been better if there was a diary for 1987 similar to that for 1988, even though some of the entries in the latter were "gobbledygook". He noted it was "fortuitous from the tribunal's point of view" that the 1988 diary was found by the Criminal Assets Bureau when it raided his home last year.
It was "a gift from the gods" as he did not know it existed. "I certainly didn't know about it until I was confronted with it."
Mr O'Neill noted that Mr Redmond was in a position to correct him on Thursday over a mere £20 deposit which he made in the mid-1980s.
