Conor Lally writing in today’s Irish Times details the story of money going missing. I like the way the headline says may face Garda. (Gardai?)
Two members of the Defence Forces who were involved in an alleged 10-year misappropriation of funds may face a Garda investigation, Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea has said.
The Army last week stated that €70,000 had been recovered and that, because the personnel involved had not used other expended funds for their own personal gain, gardaa would not be called in.
However, Mr O’Dea has said he is not satisfied with statements on the matter made by the Southern Command, in whose area the matter took place.
“The final decision will rest with me as Minister for Defence to decide on what further action is needed . . . If I believe there was any form of criminal activity involved, I will ask outside authorities to investigate and I will make that decision once I study the Military Police (MP) investigation report this week.”
I like the word misappropriation, it sounds nice. It reminds me of Father Ted, the money was just resting in his account.
They were then allegedly paying the hotels by cheque for more meals than were consumed and allegedly had an arrangement with the hotels whereby the surplus money was kept on deposit for them. The money was then used during future visits.
It is alleged the men were also taking some cash sums from the money on deposit and using it to buy supplies such as stationery.
When the matter came to light, some €70,000 was being held on deposit by three hotels. This has since been recovered.
However, it is believed the alleged misappropriation took place for up to 10 years and that much larger sums were involved during the entire period.
Well as long as the money is recovered, no crime was committed right? And €70,000 pays for quite alot of meals. But wait:
However, it is believed the alleged misappropriation took place for up to 10 years and that much larger sums were involved during the entire period.
So this arrangement was a longstanding one, and a number of hotels turned themselves into banks. The question is where did all the money go, and what advantage was it to the hotels to hold on to the money, extra business from the army?
Call me cynical, but I can’t see any arrests arising from this.