THIS IS WHITE COLLAR CRIME

Just sent this to the Public Accounts Committee.?

The Media Minister Katherine Martin should not have allowed Ms Ni Raghallaigh - the chair of the RTE board to resign - she should have sacked her. While obviously not having the courage to sack her - over the failure to provide vital information, the Minister therefore orchestrated her resignation. This scenario is blatantly obvious.

However, as [unbelievably] reported to the committee by the media minister, Ms Ni Raghallaigh attempted to blackmail her - by stating that if a letter censoring her was dispatched she would not accept it and would resign. While the media minister did not use the word ‘blackmail’, the intent and the un- spoken was obvious.?

This brings me to the crux of the matter. Ireland is supposed to be a modern and law abiding country. However in Ireland we have an elite of wealthy privileged individuals who rob the public purse with impunity. These people for many years have been above the law and actually use the law to stymie any investigation into their nefarious activities. Why has this deplorable situation been allowed to continue for so long - and is just the tip of a very large iceberg?

?To elaborate, every section of Irish Society has been infected by the mantra of ‘keep quiet and you’ll be looked after’. Anyone who refuses and tries to expose the corruption is bad-mouthed, sidelined, silenced and cancelled. If someone refuses to be bought off and persists in exposing corruption - he or she is labelled as ‘deranged’. Far from being a law-abiding country, the wealthy in RTE claim and get protection from the law to keep secret their ill gotten gains.?

Even the people who are supposed to be opposed to these Robber Barons - will not take a test case to the courts and test their corrupt assumptions? One of these champions of the underdog, Transparency International will do little to expose this corruption. In my book ‘The Judas Goats’ I give an example of John Davitt’s and Fintan O’Toole’s non-action - when told of an Asbestos corruption that's caused an unknown number of lives in Ireland, they remain silent. In this book I name the wealthy corrupt as the AMID and the ATL’s - i.e. the Arts Mafia In Dublin and the Above The Law’s. I also left 40 copies into the Dail, for a cross-section of TD’s - one each to IHREC, Phoenix magazine, the Irish Times, RTE and TV3. I attempted to give one to the policeman at the gate for the President but he wouldn’t accept it, saying I’d have to post it in. Which I did, it cost nine euros. I received just two acknowledgements.?

On the day the ‘new broom’ Kevin Bakhurst took over at RTE, he received by recorded delivery a copy of my memoir, ‘Memories and Observations’ which includes much of what’s in ‘The Judas Goats’.

Back to today’s corruption; a case in point is that of David Nally, who is an old friend and confidant of the silent Bakhurst - who was brought in to stop these hidden payments - but as has been seen - not to his old friends. Despite proven complaints being made against Mr Nally, instead of him being disciplined a new position was created for him, and 18 months later departed RTE with a golden handshake. This was shortly after his old friend Bakhurst became Director General. An interesting and unrelated fact about this is: David Nally left RTE to become a Barrister. This fact alone should ensure that he is never called to the Bar, however instead it will garner him many kudos from his new associates.?

When Bakhrust took control of RTE it was believed that the golden handshakes would cease. As witnessed nothing could be farther from the truth. The non-disclosure of two such payments led to the spat between Ms Ni Raghallaigh and the Minister. The only thing that will put a stop to this drip feed of corruption, is - for the Minister to take decisive action. She must sack Bakhurst and the entire board of RTE - and call in the Police. Only when the ‘Above The Law’s’ are charged with White Collar Crime, will they hand back to the Irish People the money they’ve taken from them.??

What has been lost in the confusion caused by Ms Ni Raghallaigh’s resignation, is the fact of why it occurred - which seems to have been the point. She resigned because Catherine Martin asked her, several times, “if she or the RTE board were involved in approving the exit packages for former CFO Richard Collins or former director of strategy Rory Coveney. In respect of the massive payments made in secret and which were supposed to be stopped - this seemed to be a very fair question. However, she took umbrage at this and resigned without answering the question. This leaves the new broom, Bakhurst, with egg on his face. The committee questioning Katherine Martin wanted to know why Bakhust didn’t step in and answer the question. Obviously he couldn't admit that he was also a party to paying his old friends money to which they were not entitled??

In a sly legalistic move and pre-emptive strike, so he could claim privilege - Bakhurst instigated 'legally binding non disclosure agreements', to protect himself - and the amounts they received from being disclosed. Why did Bakhurst do this - when he was specifically appointed to stop these payments??

THIS LEGAL CORRUPTION MUST STOP - and taxpayers money treated with the respect it deserves. To this end everyone who received a hidden and covered up payment must be summoned to a Court of Law and to justify why they received that payment.?

I hope the action I propose meets with the approval of the C&AG and the Public Accounts Committee. In parallel to the RTE Court Cases they could instigate an investigation into the cover up by the Unions, Employers, Human Rights People and Flac - of the Asbestos Deaths of Belfast Docks Workers which started 50 odd years ago.?

I must point out here that it is not just the wealthy and those in RTE who cover up for their friends - the PAC and the C&AG are just as guilty. A few years back the current C&AG instructed the PAC not to allow me to address the Public Accounts Committee. I wanted to bring to the committee’s attention the cover up and the deaths of Belfast Dockers and People, from Asbestosis. This was - and still is covered up by the Investigations Department at RTE. This department was established by Kevin Bakhurst during his first stint there. I would hope that because of the exposure of the corruption in RTE - that the Public Accounts Committee will now agree to having me appear before them. As a prelude, they could watch on u-tube ‘Death Trap On The Docks’, made by UTV’s Insight program, about 15 years ago.?

To prove all that I say about the Union and Employer Corruption at Belfast Docks, I will send a large file which contains the absolute proof - and documentation from the Union and Employers Court that ordered Dockers to discharge Asbestos - and if they didn’t, sacked them. The file also contains letters from the ICTU showing that they didn’t want to know about Union Corruption. I hope that the PAC and the C&AG will stop cherry- picking and now expose what the bought off Union Leaders did on the Irish People

Hugh Murphy