A former CIE employee who defrauded the company of £106,000 through fictitious claims has had her sentence adjourned by Judge Elizabeth Dunne at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Shirley Cummins's sentence was put back to November 10th so that the Probation Service can prepare a community service report.
Cummins (32), Lorcan Green, Santry, pleaded guilty to six sample charges, out of a total of 120, of defrauding CIE dating from January 12th, 1994, to March 31st, 1998.
Det Insp Declan Coburn told Mr Fergal Foley, prosecuting, that Cummins defrauded the company while she investigated and negotiated accident claims for Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus. He said she misappropriated £106,000 through a total of 40 fictitious cheques. Det Insp Coburn said the matter was investigated after a woman wrote to CIE saying she had not received £2,000 she was told she would be paid.
Mr Brendan Grogan SC, defending, said Cummins obtained a degree from DCU in business studies while working at CIE. After she had "run up" a credit card bill, she thought fraud was an easy way to get money to pay her debts. For more than four years the banks accepted the cheques without any queries, and it was only through an internal investigation by a bank that the matter came to light.
Mr Grogan said his client got so "embroiled" in the fraud that the only way out was to resign from CIE. Mr Grogan suggested to Judge Dunne that given her otherwise impeccable record the matter might be dealt with via a community service order rather than a custodial sentence.
Judge Dunne said that given the amount involved and the time span of four years it was hard to see how a custodial sentence could not be imposed. However, bearing in mind certain mitigating factors, she was willing to explore other options.