‘Was it a big mistake, a misunderstanding, or was [Mr Mullin] doing it dishonestly? That’s what the case is about’
‘Was it a big mistake, a misunderstanding, or was doing it dishonestly? That’s what the case is about’
The prosecution alleged that Mullin used his position as managing director of the private bank to steal €573,281 on dates between 2011 and 2013.First crack appears in Dublin Airport passenger cap Defence counsel said Mullin paid the bank through his company, Quantum, on the basis that Spice Holdings would square off this money with his company “at some ill-defined point in the future”.Either way, the fact remains that half a million euro ended up in a Channel Islands bank account and has not been traced since.
In relation to the €500,000 Spice Holdings transfer, the court was brought through a chain of events in 2011 in which life assurance clients were owed money from different arms of the bank in relation to the payout of claims. Mullin initially stood trial accused of 15 charges – nine counts of theft, five of false accounting and one count of deception. Photograph: Collins Courts
The court heard that in 2011, when the life assurance issue arose, Sean Casey, then managing director of New Ireland, met Mullin to thrash out how they should divide the claim. They agreed to split the bill, with New Ireland pledging to transfer €500,000 to Bank of Ireland Private Banking. When she raised concerns about it, she said Mullin told her it was “an exceptional item” and “wouldn’t be repeated”. She said he countersigned the authorisation letter in her presence and that it had already been signed by two bankers – head of finance at the bank Paul Gallagher and client services director Nicola Johnston.
Ms Johnston said the next thing she heard about Spice Holdings was when she was informed by Mr Gallagher in an email in December 2011 that the transfer had been signed off on. When she queried it, Mr Gallagher told it was to do with “error and breaches” on the New Ireland side and they were not privy to the details.
Mr Bourke told the court that Mullin made it clear to him that the bank was paying for a portion of his legal fees and that another partner in the firm, Mark White, was of the understanding the bank was “going to stand behind Mullin for 50 per cent of his costs”. The court heard the payments came to light in the private bank when one of the McCann Fitzgerald invoices was discovered to have been processed through an account referred to in court as the “Case X” legal costs account.
“I’m fed up telling the bank this is a criminal prosecution,” he said. “I don’t want to get cross but I have to repeat myself in these matters.” In his closing speech to the jury, Mr Grehan said the outstanding characteristics in the case were the extraordinary delay in bringing it to court and the fact that the bank was not at a loss.
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