A COUPLE have had €30,050 confiscated and forfeited to the State after a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court judge said their explanation for the cash was incredible.
Wayne O’Sullivan (38), Cedar Avenue, Kingswood, Tallaght, was stopped by Customs officers in Dublin Airport on December 7th, 2010, when the cash was found on him as he was about to board a flight for Britain.
Judge Martin Nolan said carrying that amount of money in present times would raise the suspicion of any customs and excise officer who was met with it.
He accepted that Mr O’Sullivan claims that the cash was his girlfriend’s, Jean Lynch (36), The Glade, St Wolston’s Avenue, Celbridge, in Kildare, after she secured a loan from a British lending company to buy a car.
However Judge Nolan noted that Ms Lynch was not in court and had not provided an affidavit.
He also noted that the director of the company who had supposedly lent the couple the cash was not in court to support the claim, nor had he filed an affidavit, nor was there evidence that he had instigated his own proceedings to get his money back.
“I have no confidence in the credibility of their explanation, there is just too many holes in it,” Judge Nolan said, before he added that he had no doubt that the money was intended for criminal activity.
Judge Nolan acceded to the State’s application to have the cash seized and forfeited to the exchequer.
Anthony Dover, an accountant for the British lending company, told the court that he had inspected the lending form submitted by Ms Lynch and said in his opinion it was a forgery.