An Irish businessman has told a British court he was unwittingly drawn into a £20 million VAT fraud by a former lord mayor of Dublin, Mr Michael Keating.
Mr Daniel O'Connell (46) claimed he was asked to set up a London-based computer firm for Mr Keating and accepted in good faith, believing it was a legitimate business enterprise. Only later did he discover he was involved in a massive fraud and was forced to continue after Mr Keating threatened to harm him and his family, it is claimed.
Mr O'Connell, of Catherine Street, Limerick, told the jury at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court that Mr Keating and his associate, Mr John O'Neill, lent him £151,000 to help with his building business. Instead of asking for the loan to be repaid in cash Mr Keating and Mr O'Neill asked him to help with their computer business, he said.
Mr O'Connell told the jury: "There was no mention of interest. I asked what they wanted in return and they said they would review it in three months, and maybe I would be able to do some refurbishing jobs for them because they were involved in property development. I was delighted to get the money."
Mr O'Connell said he was invited to a meeting in 1996 and asked to help set up the computer company. He said: "I told them I knew nothing about computers, I couldn't even work a computer. But they said because I was based in London I might be able to help in setting up the company and setting up some small transactions. I did exactly what I was told to do. I was quite happy to help after the way they had funded me. They had lent the company over £150,000 so I was bending over backwards to help them. I was doing it with my heart in my hands."
Mr O'Connell told the jury that when the Irish Independent published an article exposing the fraud, Mr Keating told him to destroy all evidence linking him to the company.
Mr O'Connell is charged with five counts of tax evasion and one of cheating the public revenue. Co-defendant Mr John Dawson (58), of Mumbles Road, Swansea, denies the same charges. The case continues today.