Former rugby international Brendan Mullin allegedly stole €500,000 from Bank of Ireland, trial hears

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 under way 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 16th, 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, 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 and theft against Mr Mullin relating to a chartered accountant firm called Beechwood Partners, which he said did work for Mr Mullin in relation to his personal affairs.

Mr McGinn said that when the invoice was issued to Mr Mullin’s home address, he arranged for it to be changed to the bank address. “The invoice presented to the bank had the bank address on it and payment was authorised by Mr Mullin,” Mr McGinn said.

In relation to a further three theft charges, Mr McGinn said it was the prosecution case that during the alleged period, the company Grant Thornton sent three invoices to Mr Mullin in respect of work carried out for his company, Quantum.

The prosecution alleges Mr Mullin then authorised these payments be made by the bank instead of him.

Bringing the jury through the alleged €500,000 theft charge and a related charge of deception, Mr McGinn said the background to these allegations were complicated. He said it related to a transfer that was ultimately made to a company called Spice Holdings, which was registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Mr McGinn said this payment was made against the background of a communications breakdown among various entities of the banking group, including New Ireland Assurance, relating to a life assurance error in which about 10 or 12 customers were owed a total of €1.6 million.

The court heard €500,000 had been moved around within different arms of the banking group.

Mr McGinn said that against that background, a transfer was authorised by Mr Mullin in July 2011 to pay €500,000 to Spice Holdings, which was not one of the clients with an assurance policy.

The court heard this transfer was cancelled “for various reasons” but that Mr Mullin continued to pursue this transaction.

Mr McGinn said that in December 2011, New Ireland Assurance transferred €500,000 to Bank of Ireland Private Bank on the understanding it would then be transferred to an account in the name of Spice Holdings.

The court heard Spice Holdings had an account with Northern Trust, another arm of Bank of Ireland. “As a result, €500,000 was transferred from New Ireland to Bank of Ireland Private Bank and then to Spice Holdings with Northern Trust,” Mr McGinn said.

He said it then appears these funds remained in the account for six months, before they were transferred in June 2012 into another account in the name of Spice Holdings, which was held by Royal Bank of Canada, in a branch in Jersey, in the Channel Islands.

Mr McGinn said an internal bank investigation was launched after invoice anomalies came to light. He said in due course, Mr Mullin offered his resignation and left the bank.

In July 2015 – some three years after the transfer was made – a sum of €500,000 was paid back to the bank, but the jury was told this payment didn’t come from Spice Holdings. “It came indirectly from Quantum Investment Strategies,” Mr McGinn said, adding this was the company run by Mr Mullin.

The court heard the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau became involved and Mr Mullin was questioned. He said Spice Holdings was nothing to do with him, the jury was told.

“He accepted he had organised the repayment through his own company, Quantum,” Mr McGinn said.

The court heard Mr Mullin was arrested and charged in September 2021.

In relation to theft, Mr McGinn told the jury it is not a defence to give a thing back. He said while some of the background to the case might be complicated, “what it boils down to is dishonesty”.

The trial, which is estimated to run for four weeks, continues before Judge Martin Nolan.