Cheque fraud student escapes conviction

CASSIUS MPAME ALLOWED ACCOUNT TO BE USED BY CON MAN

A student who allowed his bank account to be used to lodge a fraudulent cheque as part of a nationwide orchestrated fraud had the charge against him dismissed after the judge was told he’s trying to better himself.

Cassius Mpame, (19), 3 Lennonstown Close, admitted earlier this year a charge of theft which arose out of an incident on February 16. Judge Flann Brennan heard how Mpame had been detected as part of a nationwide Garda investigation into cheques being lodged into various accounts and it is estimated that around 40 accounts were used.

Gardai said they believed the cheques had been stolen by a postman in another part of the country who gave it to a man who altered the cheques and lodged them.

The scam involved stolen or altered cheques lodged through the quick lodge automated machines in banks and the money was never recovered.

Mpame was arrested in Dundalk on March 2 under the Criminal Justice Act and Gardai alleged that his account was used to process one of the cheques, which was for €4,400.

Solicitor Niall Lavery said his client was not involved in the theft or alteration of the cheques and was guilty of being reckless. Mpame didn’t know the cheque had been stolen and ‘foolishly allowed his account to be used by someone else’.

Mr Lavery said the defendant ‘got very little out of it’ and from the €4400 lodged into his bank account in Galway, he received €200. When he was questioned by Gardai, Mpame admitted fully his part in the incident and told them he didn’t know it was stolen.

He admitted he had been used for the use of his bank account.

Mr Lavery said if his client hadn’t been so co-operative, it would have been difficult for the State to prove the case. Gardai confirmed the defendant had ‘no part in stealing, lodging or withdrawing the cheque’ and he has no previous convictions.

Mr Lavery said Mpame is a student in Dundalk and assisted Gardai. He was ‘not the perpetrator of the fraud’. Gardai have arrested the person who lodged the cheques, through the accounts of young people like Mpame.

The case had been adjourned to last week for a probation report which, solicitor Peter Lavery said, was ‘ very positive, very favourable’. The court was told the investigation into the fraud is ongoing and Mpame had been ‘co-operative and helpful’.

Mr Lavery said his client is a pharmaceutical student who had brought €200 to court, which was, Mr Lavery said, ‘what he got for doing for this’.

‘He’s quite an impressive young man who made a mistake. He comes from a difficult background but he seems to raising himself up and doing well’. Judge Brennan found the facts proven and dismissed the charge.