TWO MEN involved in an €800,000 fraud in which fake front companies and false identities were used will be sentenced later by Judge Tony Hunt at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Darren Cahill (35) and Stephen Doyle (36) were involved with others in the elaborate fraud which continued over eight months and its victims included multinationals as well as one Irish businessman who had to close one of his companies after being duped out of €423,000.
Cahill, Howth Road, Clontarf Dublin, and Doyle, Main Street, Beaupark, Clongriffin, Dublin, each pleaded guilty to 10 counts of dishonestly obtaining goods and other related offences in 2002.
Insp Declan Daly told prosecuting counsel, Dominic McGinn, that both men used fake names and driving licences as part of the operation. Cahill used the name “Darren Bradley” and Doyle used both “Richard Wright” and “Stephen Dunne”.
Insp Daly said that various business names used in the massive deception were registered at the Companies Registration Office “by people with fake names”. These names included Enviro Products, Lambra, Stormway, Priority Executive Services and Bradley Roche.
Insp Daly said a number of legitimate companies were approached to do business with the fake firms. Fake referees and a credit history were used to secure new business with the references being given over the phone by the fraudsters themselves.
He said they claimed to represent one company that had ceased trading a decade earlier and another whose directors had emigrated in 1979.
Insp Daly said five companies agreed to supply goods to the fraudsters. Payment for the goods was to be made by direct debit, and mandates were supplied from bank accounts also set up in false names. The direct debits were cancelled after deliveries were made and the goods were sold on.
Big multinationals were defrauded, including Robert Roberts, which lost €161,387.82; Coca Cola, which is owed €53,744.18; Lever Faberge, which was defrauded out of €78,981; and Johnson Brothers, which lost €18,592.51.
Insp Daly told Mr McGinn that the biggest sufferer was Inter Euro Services and GW Continental, two small companies both directed by the same man, William Gaff, whose losses at €423,186 were so great that Inter Euro Services had to cease trading.
Insp Daly said landlords of various premises leased by the fake companies were also defrauded. He said company cars were obtained illegally. Stormway acquired a black 3 Series BMW on hire purchase from Murphy and Gunne Ltd at a cost of €36,000. A fake licence and utility bill in a fake name were used to secure the finance through Bank of Scotland.
A red BMW 5 Series was got in the same way, at a cost of €30,500. The creditor was GE Capital Woodchester Ltd. This car was later found abandoned in Donegal and returned to GE.
Cahill told gardaí he had been persuaded by “an old friend” to invest €4,000 in setting up a supply business. He said he wasn’t paid much at the start, but got bonuses of thousands every now and again. “In the end, he lost his €4,000,” Insp Daly said.
Doyle said he didn’t know to begin with that “the company wasn’t legitimate” and he’d used a false identification only to fit in. He told gardaí his role was just loading and unloading goods, although he did sign some Stormway cheques to himself as back-pay.
Insp Daly agreed with Michael O’Higgins SC, defending Cahill, who described his client as a “foot soldier” in the operation and “very gullible” that he was on the “bottom rung of the ladder”. Conor Devally SC, defending Doyle, suggested that his client “didn’t gain out of the massive fraud and was horrified to find out so many people were stung.”
Mr O’Higgins said Cahill had brought €5,000 to court for Mr Gaff and committed to bringing another €5,000. Mr Devalley said Doyle, who now works as a teacher, and his wife had put together €20,000 for Mr Gaff.