THE COURTS will not tolerate social welfare fraud and Revenue offences, a judge warned yesterday as he jailed a 42-year-old man for four years for claiming €41,000 in social welfare payments at a time when he had a turnover of more than €3 million in his bank account.
Judge Patrick Moran said Daniel Kelleher, a father of 10 children, had described himself as an unemployed farm labourer and claimed social welfare payments between March 2006 and February 2010 at a time he was failing to make Revenue returns for his business.
The case was the first joint prosecution on indictment brought as a result of a co-ordinated investigation by officials from both the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Social Protection.
Kelleher, with an address at Stoneyridge, Shanakiel, Cork, pleaded guilty to two counts of social welfare fraud, one of failing to make a tax return and eight of failing to remit Vat to the Revenue Commissioners, all between 2005 and 2008.
“The court has to give an example to people like you that this type of behaviour will not be tolerated,” said Judge Moran as he imposed three consecutive sentences, totalling four years on Kelleher, who had pleaded guilty to 11 sample charges from 35 offences.
Aidan Murphy of the Revenue Commissioners told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that Kelleher operated a business between 2005 and 2008.
During an audit of an unrelated company, Revenue Commissioners found false Vat invoices issued by Kelleher in the name of a company called Valley Precast. The company was bogus and Kelleher had used the PPS number of a former employee.
Between 2005 and 2007, the other company had paid Kelleher some €304,000 for specialised concrete products, including Vat payments totalling €36,000. Most of these Vat payments to Kelleher were in cash but he failed to remit it to the Revenue Commissioners. In a tax settlement in 2007, Kelleher failed to disclose sales to the other company of €243,000.
Kelleher had also failed to remit Vat in his own name after being engaged by a number of other companies, said Mr Murphy.
The Revenue inquiry began in February 2009. Officials searched a farmhouse belonging to him at Rathpeacon near Cork city in August 2009 and found documents showing he had been paid €686,000 by a number of companies between 2005 and 2008 on which he owed €82,000 in Vat.
Three bank accounts belonging to Kelleher showed turnover between 2006 and 2008 of €3.3 million, of which €2.7 million was untraceable in origin.
Revenue officials calculated he had a total liability of €1.65 million excluding interest and penalties.
