A former Fine Gael deputy mayor of Dungarvan has been sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty on six counts of having received corrupt payments from a property developer.
Fred Forsey Junior, 43, was convicted last month of making representations to officials and members of Waterford County Council to get lands rezoned and receiving corrupt payments of €80,000.
There was a time up to very recently when a prison sentence for corruption handed down to a politician, current or former, would have been simply unthinkable. Add to this the court ruling yesterday regarding Sean Quinn and others regarding Anglo-Irish bank, and the judge's statement that she was considering both a coercive and punitive sentence, are we we seeing the advent of an era when corruption and malfeasance will no longer be tolerated?
Personally, I believe that the public want their pound of flesh. They want to see the people responsible for building shoddy apartments, for embezzling public funds, for flagrant breaches of company law, for croneyism and nepotism brought low. One swallow doesn't make the proverbial, but tonight there may well be other public figures who will sleep just a little less soundly.
27/06/2012, 6:23 PM
BonnieShels
What I want to know is how did they quantify this sentence in comparison to the crime... I mean if *insert high profile politician who was recently reported on* is ever brought to trial surely he would be near on getting a life sentence?
27/06/2012, 8:14 PM
Eminence Grise
You'd certainly hope so, Bonnie. I used to be sceptical that even the small fry would get prosecuted, and somewhat resigned to having no form of censure other than knowing deep down that somebody was dirty, but this sentence gives hope that your Mr HPP might not be untouchable after all. There are sentencing guidelines and the amount of money embezzled or taken in bribes is, I think, less important in sentencing than the implication of the illegal action, and how deeply it affects the law or public trust etc, so Mr HPP might not even get as long as Forsey Jnr, but every corrupt politician, banker, developer etc in prison is a step towards restoring public confidence in our public institutions, and making others think twice before thinking of doing something illegal.
There is a sea change coming, I sense: offhand, we've had the businessman jailed for evading tax on imported garlic (harsh, but necessary), Forsey Jnr today, Sean Quinn and two others on Friday... here's hoping that they get an appropriate sentence from the judge.
