A TRINITY College business studies graduate who defrauded a firm of £81,000 is to sell his £200,000 Killiney house to make restitution.
Austin Gethings was financial controller for Modern Security of Sandwith Street when he committed the offences, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told. He pleaded guilty to three charges of fraud on dates in 1993 and 1994.
Det Garda Alf Martyn said an auditor from the English parent company called in the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation after finding accountancy discrepancies in the firm's books.
Gethings (40), married and the father of two, of Seafield Lodge Seafield Road, Killiney, made an immediate statement of admission when arrested. He also allowed gardai access to his bank accounts without a court order.
Most of the £81,000 was spent on buying the Killiney house. Gething's wife also had an alcohol problem from which she has recovered, Mr Sean Moylan SC, defending, told Judge Kieran O'Connor.
Det Garda Martyn said Gethings used three methods to defraud the company, which employed about 70 people. He duplicated receipts which had been paid on to draw the same amounts of money again from the petty cash account; he drew cheques from the current account; and from an account within the company.
Det Garda Martyn told Mr George Birmingham, prosecuting, that Gethings was one of three people mandated to sign cheques on these accounts. Blank cheques were left signed by one of the other authorised people and Gethings used his position to divert funds to a company he set up.
Gethings was not a qualified accountant but was a TCD business studies graduate who joined the company in 1989 as assistant financial controller. He was promoted in 1992 to financial controller.
Det Garda Martyn said Gethings's explanation of his fraud was that it was a culmination of situations, including his plan to buy the Killiney house and finding out how easy it was to perpetrate the fraud.
He also believed the English parent company was planning to sell off the Irish company, leading to a loss of executive jobs. There had been friction between both sides for some time. He though that if the sale had gone ahead the fraud might not have been detected.
Mr Moylan said Gethings's fraud had caused a rift in his family. His father was so angry he withdrew his consent to bail, resulting in the defendant spending a night in prison on remand. That had a salutary effect on him.
"From being a college graduate on the way up, he has now been brought down and is totally unemployable in such a capacity again," his counsel said.
Mr Moylan asked for an adjournment on continuing bail so that Gethings and his wife could sell their house which had an estimated value of from £180,000 to £200,000. Full restitution would be made from the proceeds.
Judge O'Connor remanded Gethings on bail to July 21st. "When a man agrees to sell his house it shows he is contrite but I am not guaranteeing what my sentence decision will be," he added.