Bertie Ahern went on Russian trip Peadar Tóibín declined after Irish-based consultancy firm invited TDs to ‘non-political’ conference
https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/bertie-ahern-went-on-russian-trip-peadar-toibin-declined-after-irish-based-consultancy-firm-invited-tds-to-non-political-conference/a791963196.html
Posted by Storyboys
17 Comments
No surprises from Bertie. The absolute chancer.
How long did it take Putin to realise Bertie was a spoofer. 5 minutes? 10 tops?
**No politician** should be in contact with the Russkies…
then there are rumours that Bertie wants to run for the Áras? 🙄
Liam Lawlor died in Russia. Just leaving that there.
That’s going to make the Irish Times’ “Bertie for President” campaign a lot harder
Ahhh Bertie
Dirty Bertie.
“I won those Roubles betting on the Grand National.”
Wow, nearly as though the man that sank the country is corrupt as well as incompetent
The guy suspected of doing corrupted shit in government went off and possibly did more corrupt shit
Had to be him. Fond of the red envelopes as well as the brown.
I wonder what paddy the plasterer makes of all this
Bertie will go wherever there’s money involved
you rekon he may be corrupt?
From the article:
An Irish-based consultancy firm invited a number of Irish politicians on a trade trip to Russia in 2017, with former taoiseach Bertie Ahern among those travelling.
Politicians went on the trip after being told they would be staying at the five-star Sheraton Palace Hotel in Moscow.
There is absolutely no suggestion of impropriety on the part of Mr Ahern.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, who was a Sinn Féin TD at the time, was offered a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin. The TD declined and instead sent the invitation up the Sinn Féin chain. No other party representative took up the offer.
In late December 2017, The Irish Times reported that the three-day trip was organised on the Irish side by Olga Shajaku, a Russian solicitor who had been based in Dublin for 20 years, and Ann Harrington, managing director of Trading House Consultancy Ltd.
The trip included a one-day conference entitled “Development of Trade-Economic and Investment Co-operation in the Conditions of Brexit”.
The invitation to the conference, as well as the offer to meet Putin, was sent from the same email address as the one listed on Ms Harrington’s music Facebook page.
As well as Ms Harrington and Ms Shajaku, Elena Krivenkova is also listed as being a director of the now-dissolved consultancy company. Her address is listed as being in Moscow, while the other two directors, Ms Harrington and Ms Shajaku, have Irish addresses.
Attempts to reach Ms Krivenkova were unsuccessful. Ms Shajaku did not respond to a list of queries.
While Mr Ahern did not attend meetings on Crimea or meet Kremlin officials, he was photographed dining alongside the delegation in Cafe Pushkin. Ms Harrington and Ms Shajaku were also pictured.
The Irish delegation paid their own costs, it was reported. Mr Ahern was contacted for comment.Mr Tóibín’s revelations of the invitation and a possible meeting with Putin came as scrutiny intensifies around the identity of “Cobalt”, a member of the Oireachtas alleged in The Sunday Times to have been “honeytrapped” by Russia.
The boom is back!