Two businessmen who defrauded Ulster Bank of over £1 million (€1.27) to keep their business afloat are due to be sentenced on June 14th by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Mr Niall Clarkin, the managing director of the Label Centre Ltd, and Mr Gerard Roche, its general secretary and financial controller, lodged fictitious invoices with Ulster Bank in the hope that their company would get out of financial difficulty and they could repay the money.
Detective Sergeant Kevin Gateley said Ulster Bank operated a system known as invoice discounting, whereby they loaned companies money on receipt of invoices and they paid them 75 per cent of monies owed to them. When the company had been paid for their products and services they repaid the bank and the bank took their fee from this payment.
Det Sgt Gately, of the Garda National Bureau of Fraud Investigation, said Ulster Bank Commercial Services Ltd had no reason to believe the invoices they received from the Label Centre Ltd were fictitious.
Mr Clarkin (61), of Springfield Park, Foxrock, and Mr Roche (68), of New Row Square, Dublin 8, pleaded guilty to carrying on a business with intent to defraud Ulster Bank between January 1st, 1996 and October 14th, 1998.
Judge Frank O'Donnell said he needed time to consider the matter and adjourned sentencing until June 14th with both remanded on continuing bail.
Det Sgt Gateley said Clarkin was one of the founding members of the Label Centre Ltd in 1981 and the business was very successful up until the mid-90s.
Around 1996, the company invested over £1 million in new technology, described as an over-ambitious expansion project, and their sales figures were down. Mr Clarkin, with the help of Mr Roche, then concocted the scheme of defrauding Ulster Bank.