A petrol retailer has been ordered to pay heavy fines after he admitted having laundered diesel at his filling station in Co Sligo.
Stephen Flynn (38), Coolbock, Riverstown, Co Sligo, was fined €23,797 at Sligo Circuit Court yesterday after he admitted defrauding the State of excise duty on October 15th, 2004, in relation to €15,865 worth of diesel.
He was also fined a further €9,984 for making an incorrect VAT return on December 3rd, 2004, when he fraudulently claimed €5,276 credit for September and October 2004.
Judge Anthony Kennedy told him that the offences amounted to a "fiddle".
He told Flynn that he had been "making money hand over fist" when he bought the illicit diesel cheaply and then sold it on "at huge profit".
He sold the fuel to customers at his premises in Castlebaldwin, Co Sligo, on the main Sligo-Dublin road.
Flynn, a married man with four children, who had been leasing a shop and filling station at Castlebaldwin from his former employer Tom Hunt, said he did not know at the time that the fuel was illegitimate.
He said he realised now that the laundered fuel could have damaged the engines of his customers' cars, but he did not know it at the time.
Judge Kennedy was told that Flynn had for some months been "pestered" by an individual calling himself Richard Rooney about buying diesel which the judge described as "washed - in plain language".
The court was told that Flynn admitted to an investigator from the Revenue Commissioners that he had received between 15 and 20 deliveries from the same supplier.
He also bought from legitimate fuel suppliers.
The scam came to light after gardaí became suspicious of an unmarked lorry which was spotted in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, at 7am on October 15th, 2004.
It had made an early morning delivery to Flynn's premises.
Forensic tests showed that there was a high sulphur content in the fuel in the tanker and in the diesel at Flynn's underground tank.
The court heard that Flynn saved between €1,000 and €1,500 on each delivery of laundered fuel.
Judge Kennedy also heard that, while Mr Flynn's business had a turnover of €3.3 million for the 12 months to March 31st, 2005, his accessible profit for that year was just €7,495.