A COURT has heard that that a family’s financial troubles included the cost of a Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Circuit Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday jailed for 18 months a man who scammed financial institutions out of over €13,000 by opening fraudulent bank accounts and using them to make purchases.
Idris Akinlabi (34), a Nigerian national described as a strict Muslim and father of three, told the court he was unable to offer compensation partly because his wife’s Hajj – a pilgrimage to Mecca – last year cost the indebted family a further €2,500.
Akinlabi, Moatville Estate, Athboy, Co Meath, pleaded guilty to sample counts from 17 charges which include: using false information to open current and credit accounts, using the accounts to make purchases and lodging falsified cheques and bank drafts at several institutions between January and September 2004.
Judge Katherine Delahunt said that a custodial sentence was warranted because Akinlabi bought luxury items such as cameras and laptops rather than essentials for his family.
Sgt Aidan Walsh told Dominic McGinn, prosecuting, that Akinlabi produced forged documentation, including a British passport and a driver’s licence bearing a false name, to open accounts at Bank of Ireland in Deansgrange, Co Dublin, in January 2004.
Akinlabi attempted to open a bank account at Ulster Bank in Navan, Co Meath, but left when his documentation was taken to be photocopied.
Sgt Walsh said Akinlabi had used a Visa card from one of the accounts to purchase €4,421 of computer equipment at PC World, Blanchardstown in July 2004 and €4,779 of electrical goods from Argos in Blanchardstown, Dublin, the same day.
He said Akinlabi also made various lodgements of forged bank drafts and cheques which failed to clear and sparked a Garda investigation.
Sgt Walsh said Akinlabi was captured on CCTV using the Visa card to purchase €10 of petrol on September 7th, 2004. A few days later he unsuccessfully attempted to use the card to buy goods at a Spar shop in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath.
Akinlabi was working at a security company under the false name on the documentation. When his home was searched, gardaí found a large amount of documentation under the false name.
Akinlabi denied opening the accounts and blamed a friend from Britain.
Defence counsel Jim Kelly said Akinlabi was a strict Muslim who was a tailor by trade, but his earnings had decreased as there was less work available to him, and he had significant term loans with several financial institutions.
He said this case had been adjourned on its original sentence date late last year because Akinlabi had to look after his children when his wife went on Hajj.
Mr Kelly said that despite “their perilous financial situation” €2,500 had been spent on the trip.
He said Akinlabi was not in a position to pay “worthwhile compensation” while he was repaying his loans.
He submitted that the falsified documents were “crude forgeries” and that Akinlabi was not running a sophisticated operation.