Official at Land Registry faces corruption charges

An official at the Land Registry in Dublin has been suspended and is facing 47 corruption charges for allegedly illegally receiving money over a 2½-year period for documents he sold to a Dublin-based law agent.

Liam Rainsford (42), of Cremore Heights, Glasnevin, Dublin, is charged with 47 counts of corruptly accepting cheques, drawn on the bank account of Dooley's Law Agents Ltd.

He is charged that he accepted the cheques "as a reward for or otherwise on account of doing an act, namely the supply of copy folios/file plans" in his capacity as an officer of the Land Registry.

The 47 charges run from December 2000 to May 2003.

The overall sum involved is just under €17,000.

The largest amount was £1,809 (€2,296) relating to the first charge dated December 19th, 2000.

The smallest was €152, which was paid a number of times during the period.

Mr Rainsford has already appeared before the courts twice, but the case has not attracted any media attention until now.

He was charged at Dublin District Court before Judge Miriam Malone on July 20th.

He is due before the court again next Thursday, and is currently on bail of €300. He has been granted legal aid.

The Land Registry is the State organisation responsible for the registration of transactions relating to land and property in Ireland.

Among other things, it supplies documents to buyers and vendors in all land and property transactions.

Such documents are needed for a sale to ensure it is known exactly what lands or properties are being sold, and to determine if any person or body other than the vendor has a holding in the asset being sold.

The office comes under the remit of the Department of Justice.

In answer to questions on the matter, the department issued a statement to The Irish Times saying: "A number of irregularities came to light in the Land Registry during 2003 in relation to the processing and payment of fees for certain services.

"The gardaí were duly notified and they undertook an investigation into the matter. The matter is now before the courts. No further comment can be made at this stage as it is subjudice."