A Co Louth accountant who defrauded his partners of more than £343,000 (€435,520) has been jailed for 12 months by Judge Elizabeth Dunne. James Rodgers (45), of Bishop's Court, Dundalk, handed over a further £175,000 in compensation before he was sentenced and has now repaid a total of £244,000 compensation to his former partners in the Frank Lynch and Company accountancy firm.
"If it were not for the compensation he would have received a three-year jail sentence," Judge Dunne said at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Rodgers pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two sample charges of forgery and obtaining by false pretences from Frank Lynch and Company on dates from 1990 to 1994. There was a total of 63 charges on the indictment.
Judge Dunne said although Rodgers's guilty plea avoided a lengthy trial and he had no previous convictions she had to have regard for the seriousness of the matter. She said a custodial sentence had to be imposed due to the quantity of money involved and the time period in which it was taken.
The court was told that Rodgers misused blank cheques given to him by clients, and took £78,500 from one family's investment account. When a pub he purchased ran into financial difficulties, he moved money out of client accounts and also stole cheques paid by farmers to pay their accountancy fees.
"It just got all out of control, it just snowballed," he told gardai. Rodgers's sentence had been adjourned originally to March 2nd last so that his wife could sell their home to provide restitution for his victims. But, at that hearing, Mr George Birmingham SC, prosecuting, told Judge Dunne that no restitution had been paid and it had also emerged that before the case initially came to court, Rodgers sold his family home to his father-in-law who then left it to Rodgers's wife in his will.
Mr Birmingham said this had not been disclosed to the court at the hearing last September. He said that there could be a long delay before the will was officially proved by probate. The prosecution was "perturbed" by this fact and it undermined the basis on which sentencing was adjourned. He added that he wanted to express his disquiet, particularly as the deadline had been reached for the payment of restitution.
Mr Martin Giblin SC, defending, said he believed the full facts of the case had been disclosed at the original hearing.
Judge Dunne said she didn't believe that was the case, but said Mr Giblin wasn't to blame for the defence evidence presented to the court. Her notes of the hearing revealed she had been told that Mrs Rodgers had inherited the family home and wished to sell it to pay restitution.
She said on that occasion she accepted Mr Birmingham's disquiet and wanted to see restitution take place as soon as possible. There was no mention of probate or the fact that Rodgers had first sold the house to his father-in-law. She added that probate could go on forever whereas the mere sale of a house was a relatively simple transaction.
