A former building society manager accused of laundering the alleged proceeds of tax fraud by members of the construction industry has been found not guilty by direction of Judge Martin Nolan.
It was the third day of the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial of Shane Sutton (42), The Lodge, Howth Road, Clontarf, Dublin. He had pleaded not guilty to 47 charges of money laundering and had denied handling cheques knowing or believing them to directly or indirectly represent another person's criminal activity between December 28th, 2000, and April 4th, 2003.
Judge Nolan directed the jury to acquit him on all counts following submissions from defence counsel Diarmaid McGuinness SC.
Colm O'Briain, prosecuting, had opened the case to the jury on Thursday but the hearing had since continued in legal argument in its absence.
On Friday Judge Nolan said he would direct the jury to acquit Mr Sutton on 26 of the charges due to the prosecution's difficulty in proving the origin of cheques. Yesterday he directed that Mr Sutton be found not guilty on all counts.
It had been alleged Mr Sutton received 63 cheques with a total value of €1.1 million which were made out to third parties involved in the building trade and that these were the proceeds of tax fraud.