In 2004, Karl McCaughley was employed as an agent of Cork City Council to distribute parking discs and bin tags and to collect payments from retailers.
Within a year, he came to the attention of the internal audit department of Cork City Council.
This eventually lead to an audit by Pricewaterhouse Cooper in 2009 and a garda investigation.
During a search of Mr McCaughley’s home, Gardai gave evidence of the accused having six luxury cars at his address (including two Porsches, two Mercedes SUVs and a Land Rover).
In March 2012, McCaughley appeared in Stubbs Gazette as the council registered a separate judgement against him for €925,000.
According to The Phoenix magazine, the council agreed to an installment scheme of €25 a week which would mean it would be 2721 before the bill was settled.
Mr McCaughley pleaded guilty to 28 charges of theft, deception and fraud totalling €124,000 in October 2012 and was sentenced to three years today.
In evidence, McCaughley said he “100% apologised” and he wanted to repay the council, but to date just €26,000 has been repaid.
And thanks to the guilty plea, Cork City Council is not required to give evidence in court of its auditing practices.
Result.
City council scammer had several luxury cars (Liam Heylin, Irish Examiner)
Businessman pleads guilty to deception, forgery and theft (RTE News)
(RTE)
