Console boss’s widow charged over fraud and money laundering

Patricia Kelly, widow of Console founder Paul Kelly, is to stand trial accused of fraudulent trading and concealing crime proceeds of the suicide prevention charity.

The former chief executive, Mr Kelly, died on February 9th last, the night before he was to be charged with financial irregularities at Console.

On Friday, his wife and a former director Patricia Kelly (58) was brought before Judge Victor Blake at Dublin District Court.

She faces two counts of fraudulent trading by Console Suicide Bereavement, between December 2006 and July 2016. The third charge was for money laundering, in which it was alleged that from September 2010 until July 2016 she concealed or disguised the true nature, location, movement or ownership of properties of Console, which were proceeds of criminal conduct.

Book of evidence

It follows an investigation by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) with the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE). The inquiry began following a 2016 RTÉ documentary about the charity, which has gone into liquidation.

Ms Kelly, now on social welfare, was ordered to appear again on April 17th to be served with a book of evidence and returned for trial to a higher court.

There was no objection to bail in her own bond of €200 subject to several conditions. Det Glenn MacKessy asked the judge to include in the order terms compelling her to sign on three times a week at a Garda station, and to be contactable by mobile phone at all times.

‘Onerous’ terms

Ms Kelly’s solicitor, James MacGuill, described his client as nervous and told Judge Blake “she will be contesting the charges”. Mr MacGuill objected to the signing on requirement and the need for her to carry a mobile phone. He called those two terms onerous.

The solicitor said it was likely that there would be a prolonged period before her trial proceeds.Mr MacGuill said his client, knowing she was under investigation, had not tried to evade justice.

Her passport has expired and she would undertake not to apply for a new one, he said. The solicitor said Ms Kelly’s husband died by suicide the night before he was to be charged. The High Court has frozen her assets and she did not have a car, the solicitor said.