Judge blasts man (20s) for telling lies over role in sophisticated Longford money laundering scam

Judge Bernadette Owens accused 22-year-old Lucky Igbinogun, 17 The Hollows, Farnagh Hill, Longford of being “less than honest” in what a court heard was a “planned” and “organised” ruse that saw €16,500 being fraudulently lodged into an account in January 2020.

Igbinogun’s co-accused, Aisling Purcell (28), 78 McKeown Park, Longford was deemed as playing a far lesser role in an incident that saw the five figures sum being transferred into her account which had been set up only two weeks previously at AIB, Main Street, Longford.

Both Igbinogun and Purcell had pleaded guilty at a previous court sitting to money laundering with the former charged with handling €2,100 after he made two withdrawals from Purcell’s account on January 24.

Detective Garda Clive Glancy said it was the prosecution’s belief Purcell had acted as a so-called “money mule” after she told officers her involvement centred around a need to pay off a €150 drugs debt.

The court heard Purcell stated in interview that Igbinogun and another male not before the courts and outside of the jurisdiction was brought to the midlands town’s AIB bank where she handed over her card and PIN number to her co-accused.

Judge Owens was told Igbinogun made the two withdrawals, both for the maximum amounts of €600 and €1,500 from the bank’s external and internal ATM’s respectively.

Det Garda Glancy said Purcell told gardaí in interview that she was then asked to make a physical withdrawal from a bank official in a move that failed to materialise after the staff member became suspicious.

Later that same day, Purcell was brought to a different location by the co-accused and a different person where she was handed documents purported to be a salary certificate and wage slip which was linked to a company based in the Czech Republic.

The respective documents were, the court heard, in Purcell’s name and had been deliberately “doctored up” in order to deceive bank officials.

However, due to their poor quality, gardaí were contacted which ultimately led to the arrests of the pair.

“Ms Purcell had two other accounts at separate financial institutions in Longford and gardaí believe this account was set up solely for the purpose of laundering the proceeds of this crime,” said Det Garda Glancy.

“It would be our view that Ms Purcell was what we would term a money mule in that she was a person sought out in order to have their account used to launder the proceeds of crime.”

The State’s view of Igbinogun’s role was that the former Sligo IT student had a “greater knowledge of what was going” than his co-accused after he revealed to gardaí he made €300 from the said incident.

“His explanation to gardaí was he didn’t see anything wrong in making the two withdrawals and in doing so gardaí would find that difficult to believe,” he said.

A search of Igbinogun’s home prior to his arrest also uncovered €765 in cash from the Longford man’s bedroom, money which he insisted came courtesy of a football related bet.

The court was informed the €2,100 had since been returned to the Czech Republic based firm.

Defence solicitor for the duo , Bríd Mimnagh put it to Det Garda Glancy that the third individual not before the courts would have played a “substantial role” in the commission of the offence.

Det Garda Glancy, while not disagreeing with that assertion, said Purcell throughout her interview had named her co-accused as the person she handed her bank card to.

Ms Mimnagh also said Igbinogun was hopeful of returning to his studies

The court was told Purcell, who was a single mother, had no previous convictions while Igbinogun had two previous convictions for a Covid-19 related breach and public order respectively.

In delivering her verdict, Judge Owens agreed with the State’s view of Purcell’s lesser role in the orchestrating of the incident and issued her with a 12 month probation bond.

She said the court was obliged to take a more weighty view of Igbinogun’s part and questioned his authenticity in telling a probation officer of not being able to remember if he was driven or walked to the bank on the day of the offence.

“Based on what was outlined to me Mr Igbinogun played a much more significant role in the commission of this offence than he acknowledged,” she said.

“He has been less than honest with this court and he has been less than honest with the probation officer.”

She consequently sentenced him to four months in prison, suspending it for a period of 12 months.

Igbinogun was also ordered to return to court on February 25 next year with €1,500 by way of compensation.