LONDON

Ireland’s former prime minister Bertie Ahern said on Saturday he is resigning from his political party, Fianna Fail, after a landmark corruption probe found he lied about bank deposits.

Ahern wrote in the Sunday Independent newspaper that he was challenging the findings of the inquiry, but did not want to be a source of division in the party and so had decided to tender his resignation.

He said he was “deeply saddened” by the tabling of a motion to remove him as a party member, which will be voted on at a special meeting of the party’s national executive being called for next Friday.

“I have decided the best way that I can now serve Fianna Fail is to tender my resignation as a member of the party,” Ahern wrote in the Sunday Indepen-dent.

“In tendering my resignation, I want people to understand that this is a political decision.” (AFP)