Directors given suspended sentences for defrauding local development group

Three company directors have each been given two-year suspended jail sentences after they pleaded guilty to stealing more than €80,000 from a Cork local development group.

Martin Cremin (46), his wife Susan Cremin (40) and Simon Atkins (38) each pleaded guilty to the same three charges when they arraigned at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

The three pleaded guilty to stealing €83,500 from IRD Duhallow Ltd at the James O'Keeffe Institute at the Demesne, Newmarket, Co Cork on October 12th, 2009.

They also pleaded guilty to forging an invoice for €49,776 at Derry Banteer on a date between June 2nd and September 9th, 2009, with the intention of obtaining a grant from IRD Duhallow Ltd.

And they also pleaded guilty to a third charge of presenting an incorrect invoice for €49,776 to the Revenue Commissioners in March 2010.

Det Garda Padraig Reddington told the court that the Cremins from Derry, Banter and Atkins of Clara Road, Millstreet, were all directors of a company called TerrProfile Ltd.

The company was involved in carrying out underground surveying using ground penetrating radar and it was set up by the three accused with two bank loans.

However, the bank loans and hire purchase commitments had to be met and Atkins also had to be paid as the monies obtained in the two bank loans began to run out, he said.

The three accused decided in 2007 to apply for funding from local development company IRD Duhallow, which administers an EU rural development (LEADER) Programme in northwest Cork.

They were buying equipment from a UK company called Allied Associates Geophysics Ltd to the value of €167,000 and hoped to get a 50 per cent grant from IRD Duhallow towards the cost.

They made a joint decision not to buy the equipment from Allied Associates Geophysics but decided to proceed with the grant application to IRD Duhallow for €83,500.

They submitted three forged invoices based on an earlier invoice that they had received from Allieds Associates Geophysical Ltd as well as three forged receipts and three forged cheques.

Moreover, they used a friend’s bank account to lodge the cheques so that it would appear that the money had been paid out of the TerrProfile Ltd account as if they had bought the equipment.

Det Garda Reddington said the fraud came to light in 2010 when an inspector from the Revenue Commissioners, Ted Browne, carried out a VAT audit for the company.

The three accused were confronted, admitted the fraud and were co-operatative with gardaí and the Revenue Commissioners, said Det Garda Reddington.

None of the three had any previous convictions and repaid the €83,000 to IRD Duhallow by December 2013.

Judge Seán O Donnabhain said it was clear this was a deliberate and well thought-out scheme to draw down a grant from IRD Duhallow to which they were not entitled.

They had forged documents to steal more than €83,000 from IRD Duhallow which would have represented a loss to the State, but for the good work of the Revenue Commissioners.

Ho noted that none had any previous convictions and that they had repaid the stolen money which was a mitigating factor when it came to sentence.

The judge said he believed the appropriate sentence was two years, but he suspended it on condition that they be of good behaviour for two years.

He also noted TerrProfile Ltd continued to exist but not trade and the convictions of the three directors should be brought to the notice of the Director of Corporate Enforcement.