Athlone man who moved €60k through account and claimed pandemic payment for six people jailed

An Athlone resident who couldn’t account for €60,000 that moved through his accounts, and who was claiming Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) for six other people, has been jailed.

Stefan Muntean (39), with an address at Meadowbrook, Athlone, appeared before Judge Keenan Johnson at Mullingar Circuit Court today (Wednesday) where he was handed a three-year prison sentence for money laundering and welfare fraud.

Detective Garda Kenneth Nerney told prosecutor Cathal Ó’Bronáin how the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau’s financial intelligence unit was made aware of a number of suspicious transactions in Mr Muntean’s Credit Union account, triggering an investigation in November 2022.

Documents furnished to Gardaí following the execution of a court order on Athlone Credit Union showed that sums of cash were being lodged into the account, which were not in keeping with the financial profile of the unemployed father of four.

Further investigations revealed that cash lodgements were being made to the Credit Union account before being electronically transferred to Mr Muntean’s Revolut account. Between July 1 and October 24, a total of €48,752 had been put through Revolut, while a total of €11,000 cash was lodged in his Credit Union account between May 18 and November 25.

When interviewed, Mr Muntean gave no explanation for the source of the funds, but told Gardaí that some of the monies were from friends or family members.

“It is my business, my account,” he said when asked where all the money had come from.

During the course of those months, the court heard that the accused had spent around €90,000 in an online casino, and withdrew €68,622 in total from his online gambling account.

Detective Garda James Martin gave evidence of how, in November 2020, Gardaí received a report from Social Welfare regarding multiple PUP payments being made to Mr Muntean’s account.

Investigations revealed that a total of six PPS numbers for individuals who were not working or residing in the country were receiving the temporary social welfare payment set up for individuals who were out of work during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Each of the six weekly payments were made to Mr Muntean’s Credit Union account, totalling €16,786. When questioned by Gardaí, he said an acquaintance had asked to use his account for the payments.

Mr Muntean, who was not entitled to make PUP claims in his own name, would receive the payments into his account, withdraw them and give the cash to this acquaintance. He would receive €20 per week for his trouble.

Mr Muntean has 34 previous convictions, many of which were for theft or public order offences, with 12 of those relating to driving offences.

He was on social welfare at the time, including a carer’s allowance for the care of his father. Gardaí accepted that he had no trappings of wealth, despite the amounts of money passing through his accounts.

Desmond Dockery SC, defending, told the court that Mr Muntean, who is a “Roma gypsy” in his native country, suffers from mental health issues, as well as a gambling habit.

He came to Ireland in 2005, worked "intermittently" in that time, and his previous convictions  were “mainly for begging, theft and driving”.

He has a family of four children but is estranged from his partner. Mr Dockery said his client admitted he was reckless in allowing the use of his account for the welfare payments.

Judge Johnson noted that Mr Muntean was “gambling all his money while on social welfare”, stating it was “an unusual money-laundering case.

He proceeded to set a headline prison sentence of seven years, which he mitigated down to five years and six months, suspending the final two and a half years for five years. A concurrent sentence of two years was imposed for the PUP fraud charges.

Mr Dockery requested a stay on the committal order to Friday, July 11, to allow Mr Muntean to attend a medical appointment. However, the state were uncomfortable with that application and it was refused.