COLD, cunning and calculated is how a judge described the deception carried out by a Limerick accountant who used money he stole to pay bills, upgrade his home and even buy a €3,500 piano.
Kieran O’Halloran of Keelgrove, Ardnacrusha, who was given a three-year suspended sentence by Judge Tom O’Donnell at Limerick Circuit Court last Friday, has still to face legal actions by the clients he defrauded of up to €50,000 between September 2008 and April 2009.
The 44-year-old separated father-of-three admitted stealing various amounts from Mullally Taverns and Racefield Catering. He was hired by the companies, who have common directors, in 2008 and while there was no formal contract, Mr O’Halloran was authorised to sign cheques, discharge invoices and pay bills.
The company directors were alerted to financial irregularities after creditors complained they were not getting paid. Mr O’Halloran was challenged and admitted the thefts to GardaÃ.
In one instance, a cheque for €3,288 was diverted to Mr O’Halloran’s account despite the chequebook stub indicating it was used to pay rent due to the landlord. Another cheque for €3,500 was used by Mr O’Halloran to purchase a piano.
Other cheques were used to discharge Mr O’Halloran’s personal debts and pay for home improvements with the total amount of the thefts falling just short of €50,000.
Judge O’Donnell said while the amount was not insignificant, he had managed to pay back in the region of €35,000.
The case involved ” an enormous amount Garda time”.
The thefts and deceptions also sparked a revenue audit of Mullally Taverns and Racefield catering which revealed that books and financial records were in an “extremely chaotic state”.
He was also hired as a bookkeeper for a hairdressing company where a cheque for €7,200, which was meant for the Revenue Commissioners, was diverted to his personal account.
Matters only came to light when the company was informed that tax and VAT was outstanding and, as a result, fees and penalties had been imposed.
He was also charged with dishonestly obtaining an €18,225 loan from KBC bank by forging the signature of a company director on the loan application. He  submitted the director’s personal identification documents to accompany the loan application and drew down the money as payment for “professional fees”.
The first the company director knew of the loan was when the bank wrote to him asking him to begin his repayments.
Judge O’Donnell said that this was “a substantial breach of trust involving a substantial amount of money where Mr O’Halloran used “his skill set to perpetrate the offences” causing a great deal of stress to the company directors.
“This behaviour was cold, calculated and cunning”.
The thefts and breaches of trust resulted in a “loss of professional standing where Kieran O’Halloran now has a criminal record”.
However, the fact that he admitted the offences avoided a trial which would have been a lengthy and complex matter for a jury to deliberate on.
Imposing a three year suspended sentence, Judge O’Donnell commended Detective Donal Moynihan and his Garda colleagues on their hard work in resolving the case.
After being told that civil cases were being taken the injured parties, he said that any money paid over by the defendant was without prejudice to the civil actions.
