Armagh solicitor on fraud conviction must pay back over £66,000

A jailed Co Armagh solicitor who laundered money for a cross-Border oil smuggler must pay back more than £66,000 (€98,500), a…

A jailed Co Armagh solicitor who laundered money for a cross-Border oil smuggler must pay back more than £66,000 (€98,500), a court has ruled.

As well as being issued with a confiscation order, Brian Dougan (49) was ordered to pay legal costs of £20,000 by a judge in Liverpool.

Peter Hollier, head of UK customs and excise criminal investigations, said: "Dougan abused his position of trust to launder the proceeds of organised crime and as such was as guilty of an attack on the UK's revenue system as those who organised and ran the original oils fraud."

Dougan, from Brootally Road, Milford, Co Armagh, who was sentenced to three months in jail in July after being convicted of fraud, has been warned he will face another sentence if he fails to pay.

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His jailing followed a lengthy investigation into suspicious activity of an oils gang from across the UK. Revenue and customs investigators examined the origin of large sums of money passing through Dougan's business accounts on behalf of Thomas McCague, one of the gang leaders.

An analysis of the financial records identified transactions totalling more than £300,000 in 2001 and 2002 linked to property purchases in Northern Ireland.

Dougan pleaded guilty to suspecting £66,500 he handled was money laundering on behalf of McCague (32), from Rosemount Avenue, Armagh, a convicted fuel fraudster who is now on the run after being jailed for five years in his absence.

Mr Hollier said: "Revenue and customs will not tolerate anyone abusing their professional position of trust to assist criminals in their attempts to disguise income or launder the cash from their crimes. This case was linked to a gang who were prosecuted last year for a major oils fraud and this demonstrates our commitment to remove every level of any conspiracy to defraud the revenue."