A former building society manager has gone on trial accused of laundering money which was allegedly the proceeds of a "wide-ranging conspiracy to defraud the Revenue" by people within the construction industry.
Shane Sutton is alleged to have between late 2000 and 2003 received 63 cheques with a total value of €1.1 million which were made out to third parties involved in the building trade and were the proceeds of tax fraud. He allegedly lodged the cheques to his own account and money was later withdrawn, largely in cash.
Mr Sutton (42), The Lodge, Howth Road, Clontarf, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 47 charges of money laundering as introduced by the Criminal Justice Act 1994.
He denies that he handled cheques knowing or believing them to directly or indirectly represent another person's criminal activity on dates between December 28th, 2000, and April 4th, 2003.
Colm Ó Briain, prosecuting, told the jury in opening the case yesterday that Mr Sutton was the agency branch manager of the Educational Building Society (EBS) in Marino since 1997.
He was in effect self-employed with total control of the day-to- day running of the branch.
Mr Ó Briain said the cheques received by Mr Sutton were the proceeds of a "wide-ranging conspiracy to defraud the Revenue".
He explained that the Relevant Contracts Tax applied to payments to subcontractors within the construction industry. It provided that tax-certified subcontractors were paid 100 per cent of money owed to them but if they were uncertified, the principal contractor withheld 35 per cent of the payment.
Mr Ó Briain said that a fraud was operated by a named man within the industry to use the certification cards of tax-registered subcontractors to receive 100 per cent payments for work those subcontractors had not done.
The prosecution alleges that five principal contractors and five subcontractors were involved in this criminal activity to cause a loss to the Revenue and that the named man passed cheques to Mr Sutton.
Mr Ó Briain said the cheques were not made out to the named man but to third parties and were already endorsed "supposedly by the payees".
Mr Sutton then lodged the cheques into his own EBS account and "to the extent it can be traced" the money was withdrawn largely in cash and also in bank drafts which were made out to the named man and his associates.
Mr Ó Briain said it would be for the prosecution to show that Mr Sutton handled the cheques and "at minimum probably thought they represented the proceeds of criminal activity". He said it was a "classic case of money laundering".
Mr Ó Briain said that a curious aspect of the case would be that the named man allegedly had the access code to get into the staff area of the EBS in Marino.
The hearing continues before Judge Martin Nolan and a jury of five men and six women.
One juror was released from service at the opening of the trial yesterday, due to personal difficulties.