Former Irish rugby player goes on trial for alleged €500,000 bank theft

By Isabel Hayes

A former Irish rugby international allegedly stole over €500,000 from Bank of Ireland Private Bank when he was its managing director more than 10 years ago, a jury has been told.

The trial of Brendan Mullin (60) of Stillorgan Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, got underway in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday.

Mr Mullin denies all 15 charges against him, which are alleged to have occurred between July 2011 and March 2013.

He has pleaded not guilty to one count of stealing €500,000 from Bank of Ireland Private Bank, Mespil Road, Dublin 4 on December 16, 2011, along with eight other counts of stealing various amounts of money from the bank on different dates.

He has further pleaded not guilty to one count of deception and five counts of false accounting. The charges are all alleged to have taken place at Bank of Ireland Private Bank, Mespil Road.

The jury was told Mr Mullin was the managing director of Bank of Ireland Private Bank at the time of the alleged offences and that he is a former rugby international who played for Ireland.

In his opening address, prosecuting counsel, Dominic McGinn SC, told the jury this was a case of financial dishonesty involving charges of theft, deception and false accounting.

He said the allegations arose from a period of time when Mr Mullin was Managing Director of Bank of Ireland Private Bank, an arm of the bank dealing with investments among other things.

Outlining the charges, Mr McGinn told the jury that eight charges – four false accounting and four theft charges – related to alleged payments made by Bank of Ireland to McCann Fitzgerald Solicitors.

The court was told McCann Fitzgerald was engaged by Mr Mullin to do some work for a company of which he was a director, called Quantum Investment Strategies.

Mr McGinn said that when McCann Fitzgerald invoiced Mr Mullin for that work, Mr Mullin asked McCann Fitzgerald to change the invoices and have them sent to the bank instead.

“They should have been paid by Quantum or Mr Mullin,” Mr McGinn said. “But the bank ended up paying for them.”

Mr McGinn said there were similar allegations of false accounting.