CLARE Fianna Fail councillor Enda Mulkere has been found guilty of 16 charges of fraud in relation to Shannon Development. He was remanded in custody for sentence on April 7th by Judge Kevin Haugh at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
He told the media after the trial he had tendered his resignation from Clare County Council. He was first elected to it in 1986 and re-elected in 1991.
The jury spent Monday night in a hotel and took 41/2 hours to reach unanimous verdicts on all charges following the 12-day trial.
Judge Haugh directed probation and psychological reports on Mulkere at the request of his counsel, Mr Peter Charleton SC.
Mr Charleton said it was not a case of there being anything mentally wrong with his client. However, there might be something in the background which a report could assist the court with in sentencing. He asked the court to nominate Dr Ivor Short, of the Central Mental Hospital, to prepare it.
Judge Haugh said because the defendant was on free legal aid he did not have the authority to nominate a particular specialist and he would recommend Dr Short, but it was then a matter for the authorities.
Mulkere (48), a father of four, from Carrownacloughy, Crusheen, Co Clare, had denied obtaining money by fraud from contractors and of causing or attempting to cause Shannon Development to pay sums to contractors by false pretences between October 1991 and June 1992.,
He was convicted on 12 charges of fraudulently obtaining cheques from Mr Jack McCarthy and Mc Carthy Bros and Co (Ennis) Ltd, and from Mr Thomas Madden Madden Pipelines Ltd and Madden Planthire Ltd, by falsely pre,tending it was to pay sub-contractors for work done ford SFADCo.
The jury also found him guilty of four charges that he caused sums, or attempted to cause sums, to be paid to McCarthy's and Madden's by Shannon Development, by falsely pretending all the monies was lawfully due to them.
Mr Paul O'Higgins SC told the jury Mulkere got £84,039 from McCarthy's and Madden's. He got six cheques totalling £26,571.57 from McCarthy's, and 30 cheques amounting to £57,288 from Madden's.
The jury of 10 women and two men heard Mr McCarthy and Mr Madden recount how Mulkere asked them for the cheques to pay sub-contactors "for remedial works" in the Shannon area. He said SFADCo had a cashflow problem and he was under pressure to pay these people.
Mulkere told them the amounts he wanted each cheque made out for and said these monies would be reimbursed through certified payments on contracts their companies were carrying out for SFADCo.
The defendant agreed he got the money but claimed it was as personal loans from "two trusted friends" to help him over financial difficulties.
He agreed he used some of the £84,000 to deal with overdrafts and arrears on various accounts. He also agreed he bought two cars, a tractor, a horse and cattle and that he got £14,000 in cash from his bank when negotiating some of the cheques.
The jury heard from consulting engineers that Mulkere asked them to include amounts on various certificates for, unspecified "extra work" he said had been done by the contractors for SFADCo. McCarthy's received £16,182 back this way and Madden's £37,300.
The jury heard the fraud came to light in June 1992 when Mr Madden returned from Lourdes and contacted Shannon Development seeking payment of £19,988 which was still "overdue" from ,the cheques he paid out.
SFADCo denied any knowledge of such an arrangement and immediately reviewed all the contracts with which Mulkere was involved.
He declined an invitation to have someone accompany him at a meeting on June 16th, 1992, where he was asked why he had received cheques made payable to cash from Mr McCarthy, and why McCarthy's was paid £16,182 for work it had not done.
Shannon Development executives gave evidence that Mulkere said he got McCarthy's to carry out small remedial jobs but could not recall details of the work or whom he dealt with in McCarthy's. He was suspended on full pay by SFADCo's assistant chief executive, Mr Jack Burke, who was on his first day in that position.
Mulkere was accompanied by three SIPTU officers at a second meeting on June 25th, 1992. He withdrew his claim of McCarthy's doing the alleged remedial work and said it had been carried out by small sub-contractors whose names he could not recall.
The Shannon Development executives said Mulkere also denied getting cheques made payable to cash from McCarthy's. When shown the cheques, he claimed he was given them in sealed envelopes to hand to sub-contractors he hired to do "bits and pieces" of work in Shannon. The meeting ended when he complained of feeling unwell.
A letter dated July 2nd, 1992, was sent to him with specific questions and when no reply was received by July 7th he was dismissed by SFADCO.
Mulkere's pension contributions of £17,000 were forfeited, to Shannon Development which also began proceedings against McCarthy's, and Madden's to recover monies wrongly paid out. Civil proceedings were also initiated by Mr McCarthy and Mr Madden against Mulkere.
Mr Madden agreed he got possession of cattle and horses as part of a settlement. Mr McCarthy said, he was granted judgment, by Ennis Circuit Court against Mulkere for repayment of "personal loans". He said his legal advisers told him he should proceed in that way.