A former bank managing director accused of stealing over €570,000 suggested his PA might have “swept” an invoice for his company into a bundle of bank paperwork.
Brendan Mullin (60) of Stillorgan Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, who is also a former Ireland rugby international, denies all 15 charges, which are alleged to have occurred between July 2011 and March 2013.
Mr Mullin has pleaded not guilty to one count of stealing €500,000 from Bank of Ireland (BOI) Private Bank, Mespil Road, Dublin 4 on December 16, 2011, along with eight other counts of stealing various amounts of money amounting to just over €73,000 from the bank on various dates.
He has further pleaded not guilty to one count of deception and five counts of false accounting. Mr Mullin was the managing director of BOI Private Bank at the time of the alleged offences.
The prosecution alleges Mr Mullin authorised payments by the bank to solicitors McCann Fitzgerald, accounting firm Grant Thornton and accountants Beechwood Partners for work that was carried out either for his company, Quantum Investment Strategies, or for him personally.
Schira Donnelly, then BOI interim head of business assurance, Retail Ireland, gave evidence on Thursday that she carried out an internal review in relation to an invoice paid by the bank to McCann Fitzgerald solicitors on March 15th, 2013.
She said she contacted Mr Mullin, who asked for the review to be delayed as he was going on leave, which she refused.
She met Mr Mullin on April 2nd, 2013, during which he expressed frustration and said he was uncomfortable signing a large volume of paperwork.
Ms Donnelly told Dominic McGinn SC, prosecuting, that Mr Mullin suggested to her that this McCann Fitzgerald invoice had been “swept” into a bundle of paperwork by his PA.
She said he outlined how this payment to McCann Fitzgerald was reversed on March 25th, 2013 and McCann Fitzgerald shouldn't have sent this invoice to the bank.
Ms Donnelly said they discussed three other invoices, and he told her these related to personal work carried out for him by McCann Fitzgerald, which he had paid, meaning the bank was due a refund.
She recalled him describing it as “sloppiness” on the part of the solicitors, then commenting that legal firms were “firing out bills” at that moment.
The witness told Mr McGinn she met Mr Mullin again later that day, and they discussed an invoice for €24,000 from McCann Fitzgerald which appeared to have been split into two separate invoices – one for around €18,000, and a second for the remaining balance.
She said invoices above €20,000 require authorisation from the chief financial officer.
Ms Donnelly described Mr Mullin as shocked and said he put this down to “carelessness on his part”. He confirmed his signature on the invoices.
She said Mr Mullin re-iterated that the bank would be refunded and that the invoices shouldn't have been sent to the bank as he had already paid them.
Under cross-examination, Ms Donnelly agreed with defence senior counsel Brendan Grehan that Mr Mullin told her it was possible the invoice had been “swept” into the bundle by his PA.
The witness also agreed with Mr Grehan that her report highlighted failings in the BOI Private Bank's invoice processes.
