Money laundering trial of Mullagh man collapses

THE TRIAL of a man accused of laundering money from an elderly man’s bank account, collapsed at Cavan Circuit Court last week.

The case was dropped after a garda detective admitted to writing a statement on behalf of the alleged victim.

When the judge heard the methods deployed by the former financial services employee-turned officer, he asked: “Did you go through Templemore?”.

Incredulous, Judge John Aylmer also queried how long garda training takes.

A jury of eight men and four women had been sworn in for the hearing, which began December 3.

Francis Yore (57) with an address at Leitrim, Mullagh, Co Meath, pleaded not guilty to five counts of money laundering on the indictment.

The charges formally put to Mr Yore were of “possessing money that was the proceeds of criminal conduct” totalling €11,500 “obtained by deception from Derek Pullen” and “credited to a Revolut account in the name of Francis Peter Yore”.

Accusation

Mr Yore was accused of receiving deposits into a Revolut account in his name from Mr Pullen’s PTSB bank account on five different occasions in 2023.

The first amount of €2,200 was received into the Revolut account on April 27, 2023. This deposit was followed by another of €900 a few days later on May 3; a third of €4,300 on May 16; and the two final amounts of €2,100 on May 22 and €2,000 on May 25, 2023.

Mr Pullen, the alleged injured party at the centre of the case, was the first witness to give evidence.

The 88 year old from Bray, Co Wicklow, told prosecuting barrister, Frank Martin BL, instructed by State Solicitor Fiona Baxter, that around the time of the alleged deception, he and a friend had several conversations about investing money; while at the same time, he was receiving phone calls from a firm trying to sell him investment plans.

“A friend of mine suggested I could invest a small amount and it would grow into a significant amount,” Mr Pullen told the court. “Then I had this person telling me about an investment opportunity; he made a few calls over a week to remind me of the details etc.,” Mr Pullen said. However, he could not remember the name of the friend, the investment firm or the bank apart from “City-something” to which he was to transfer money.

Witness

Mr Martin asked Mr Pullen to confirm the amounts transferred, and whether the transfers were done in-branch or by card. Mr Pullen confirmed the reference on at least two of the transactions on his statement was “Francis”.

Taking up questioning on behalf of the defence, Francis Yore’s barrister, Breifne Gordon BL, instructed by solicitor Martin Cosgrove, asked Mr Pullen about the friend who had encouraged him to start investing.

Mr Pullen remembered the person’s name but said he was “not a close friend” and they were no longer in contact the person now lives in the UK.

Mr Gordon’s attention then moved to the two statements Mr Pullen had given gardaí, specifically Detective Garda Damien Lynch of Bray Garda Station.

When the barrister asked Mr Pullen if he had brought a copy of his PTSB bank statement to Bray Garda Station when he made his first statement on October 20, 2023, he said: “I can’t recall.”

Examination

The defence barrister asked Derek Pullen if he remembered making an additional statement to gardaí the day before his court hearing on December 2, to which he said: “No”.

“The record I have is that you made a statement to gardaí in Cavan courthouse yesterday,” Mr Gordon said to the witness. Mr Pullen responded by saying: “But, I wasn’t in court yesterday.”

The judge then asked Mr Pullen, who was accompanied to court by another male, to step outside.

“It’s better you don’t hear what’s being canvassed,” Judge Aylmer said, as Mr Pullen left the courtroom. Detective Lynch was then called to the witness box.

Taking up questioning of the garda, Mr Gordon established that a day earlier, December 2, Det Lynch had typed up a statement on behalf of Mr Pullen and got him to sign it.

Judge Aylmer stepped in to say: “He has just told me he has no recollection of making a statement.”

“The statement was printed off, read over to him, I advised him he could make any additions or amendments to it, I signed it, and he signed it in my presence,” the garda explained.

Mr Gordon asked him about a part in Mr Pullen’s second statement which said €2,500 was transferred from his bank account “using an in-bank kiosk machine” and asked the garda where he got this information.

Det Lynch informed that prior to working with An Garda Síochána he worked with AIB bank. He said he took the information from Mr Pullen’s bank statements and knew from his “experience investigating fraud” that the code “KSC” on a bank statement refers to an in-branch kiosk transaction.

“So, you were relying on your own experience and prior knowledge and put that into a statement of evidence and advised the witness to sign it?”

Mr Gordon put to Det Lynch: “It seems clear you’re saying to the judge that you made the statement, you were the author.”

“He was happy with it,” the garda said in response. “I asked him if the transactions were made in-branch and he said: ‘yes’. I asked him yesterday and today.”

When pushed on this, the gda said: “I wrote it yesterday and got him to sign it this morning.”

Under further questioning it transpired the garda had Mr Pullen sign the statement the day after it was made because one of the dates on the indictment was wrong.

After some time, Judge Aylmer asked the detective garda how long he was in An Garda Síochána and was told: “Seven years”.

Statement

“Did you come straight to the guards as a civilian? Did you go through Templemore?” the judge asked Det Lynch, who said he is “fully trained”, and pointed out it has been eight years since he worked in a financial institution.

The judge then asked if typing up a statement on behalf of a witness and getting him to sign it later was a common practice in An Garda Síochána.

“In Templemore, what is the training, six months?” the judge asked.

Gda Lynch said: “It’s certainly a practice I’ve witnessed before.”

“The signature was affixed on December 3, one transaction date had to be changed on the indictment today. Obviously, you were doing all this for a reason,” Mr Gordon pressed.

“I don’t accept that,” the detective answered. “There’s no reason to it. I’ve explained, it was for clarifying.”

Mr Martin conceded he had “no in-depth conversations with Mr Pullen” prior to him taking the stand on the day the trial started.

The judge then asked Det Lynch to step out of the witness box and turning to Mr Martin asked: “Are you happy to stand over this?”

When the barrister said he would have to take instruction, Judge Aylmer said: “Thankfully, this is one of the more minor cases to come before the court for trial” before the courtroom was emptied.

When the trial resumed, Mr Pullen and the man accompanying him did not return.

Acting on behalf of the DPP, Mr Martin said his instructions were to enter “Nolle Prosequi” - to drop all the charges against the accused.

Dismissing the jury and excusing them from jury duty for the next three years, Judge Aylmer told Mr Yore he was free to go.

“I don’t want to say anything unnecessary,” Judge Aylmer stated. “But, I’m sure the DPP will see this as an opportunity to reiterate to gardaí the perils of making statements on behalf of witnesses.”