This article is from page 20 of the 2013-04-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 20 JPG
A COUNTY Clare bank manager has been jailed for four years after he stole nearly € 450,000 from customers to pay off a € 3 million debt he had run up from failed property investments.
Kevin Jarlath Mitchell (54) had been working as a branch manager in ACC Bank in Kilrush when the 19 year long fraud was uncovered.
He came before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on signed pleas of guilty from the District Court and confirmed seven such pleas before Judge Martin Nolan.
They were accepted as sample pleas.
Mitchell, who now lives at Driminagh Road, Driminagh, pleaded guilty to charges of theft, obtaining cash and a cheque under false pretences and falsifying a DIRT compliance certificate on dates between January 1993 and February 2012.
Detective Garda Alec Cassidy told Vincent Heneghan BL, prosecuting, that Mitchell stole € 197,000 from a local pensioner after leading the man to believe that he had been depositing his cash in a high interest deposit account for 19 years.
The elderly man was under the impression that there would be € 520,000 in the account which had been legitimately opened in 1993 but closed, unbeknownst to him, in December 1994.
Mitchell also stole € 250,000 from long-term friends and customers, a husband and wife who lived locally in West Clare.
They believed he had invested the cash in a two-year bond that would earn the couple about 4% interest. He had in fact lodged the money in his own credit union account.
None of the cash was recovered but ACC bank fully reimbursed all three of the victims.
Mitchell has since handed over his € 600,000 pension to compensate the bank which has been accepted.
The court heard that since the fraud was uncovered last year, Mitchell’s marriage has broken down, he has lost his job and has left the family home in Clare.
Det Gda Cassidy agreed with Ronan Munro BL, defending, that his client’s early co-operation with the gardaí greatly reduced the time spent on the investigation.
He accepted that the fraud began when Mitchell lost € 80,000 after a property he bought collapsed and he had no insurance for the house.
Detective Cassidy further accepted that his crimes escalated as he continued to invest in property both in Ireland and abroad and he was “effectively robbing Peter to pay Paul”.
He agreed that Mitchell has no previous convictions, is genuinely remorseful and unlikely to come to garda attention again.
Mr Munro said there was “no excuse” for what his client did and said it represented “a huge breach of trust”.
He said Mitchell is a father to five sons and effectively “exiled” himself from Kilrush when the fraud came to light and he separated from his wife.
Judge Nolan said it was a sad case as Mitchell had been a well respected man in his local area and a trusted member of the local community.
“He sought to escape from his financial trouble by stealing from his customers and friends,” the judge said.
He acknowledged that Mitchell had come to court with “the perfect mitigation” in that he had co-operated with his employers and the gardaí which made it easy for the authorities to investigate his crimes.
Judge Nolan accepted that for a man such as Mitchell prison would be very difficult but told the court he must impose a somewhat harsh term “for general deterrence and punishment”.
The court heard that Mitchell had legitimately opened a bank account with ACC in January 1993 for the elderly man but closed it the following December.
The man was then 58-years old and had been a customer with ACC bank for many years.
Mitchell continued to call at the house for 18 years collecting the cash and keeping it for himself.
This fraud was discovered when the man decided to get his financial matters in order in 2012 and recruited a local accountant.
The victim was under the impression that there would be € 520,000 in the account but when the bank was contacted, the accountant was informed there was no such account.
Mitchell was contacted because the accountant was concerned about the man’s DIRT liability and Mitchell subsequently manufactured a bogus DIRT compliance certificate.
The accountant was suspicious of the document and following, a meeting with members of ACC bank, the gardaí were contacted.
Mitchell was immediately co-operative and admitted the second fraud in relation to the couple from West Clare.