Accountant ‘bought cars and homes with stolen cash’ – court
AN ACCOUNTANT with a “fascination with risk and trying to win big” stole £1.3m from the Bermuda government and transferred it to the UK to invest in cars and properties, a court has heard.
Jeffrey Bevan, 50, allegedly siphoned off the money while working as a payment manager in the British overseas territory between 2011 and 2013.
Cardiff Crown Court heard Bevan cannot be prosecuted for allegedly taking the money, totalling almost 2.5 million Bermudan dollars (BMD), as he is in the UK.
The father-of-two, from Cwmbran, Torfaen, is standing trial accused of transferring £1.3m of the money to UK bank accounts.
This was allegedly used to pay off the £140,000 mortgage on his house, invest in 11 properties and buy two Mercedes-Benz cars.
Bevan claims that £1.8m was legitimately paid to him for his work at the department of the Accountant General of Bermuda.
Tim Evans, prosecuting, said Bevan made 52 payments from the Bermudan government to bank accounts belonging to him and his wife.
The jury heard Bevan did this while implementing a new finance system at the government.
Mr Evans described Bevan as a “gambling addict” with a “fascination with risk and trying to win big”.
“The prosecution case against Mr Bevan is that he was dishonestly involved in these fraudulent transactions of almost 2.5 million dollars of money belonging to the Bermudan people,” Mr Evans said.
“It had been covered up by a man who claims to be an expert in the (new) system. He left (Bermuda) before he got rumbled.
“Bermuda can’t prosecute because he is in the UK. The prosecution are not prosecuting him for things on Bermudan soil.”
Bevan and his wife Samantha Bevan, 52, moved to Bermuda after he secured a three-year post in 2011.
His £80,000 per year role included overseeing the implementation of a new finance system, the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne System.
During his employment, he complained about his pay and asked for a raise as a “smokescreen” for the money he was receiving, Mr Evans said.
Bevan resigned in February 2013 – a year before the end of his contract – and the family returned to the UK following his final day of work in May that year.
In September that year, Bevan’s former colleagues noticed irregularities with cheques that appeared to have been cancelled on the new system.
These cheques – totalling 2,452,135.42 BMD – had actually been paid into Bevan’s bank account or the bank account of his wife, the court heard.
Between May 2011 and May 2013, there were 49 payments to Bevan’s personal account while three were paid into his wife’s account.
Mr Evans said £1.3m of this was transferred “pretty quickly” to the UK while the remainder was spent in Bermuda.
Bevan replied “no comment” to all questions during police interviews after he and his wife were arrested in 2014, the court was told.
It is now understood he claims the 2.4BMD he received was further overtime, paid legitimately by the Bermudan government.
Mr Evans said the government had refuted this and described the claim Bevan’s hourly overtime rate was 400 BMD as “ridiculous”.
He would have to have worked 6,130 hours of overtime during his two years and five months at the Bermudan government to earn the figure.
Investigators analysed Bevan’s log-in times on the financial system and found 93.9% of these were for between 8am and 5pm.
They also found Bevan had investments in horse racing and had bet on races “for a significant period”, Mr Evans said.
Paddy Power revealed Bevan had made 18,853 bets online between November 2008 and May 2014.
He deposited more than £2m into his account on the site, later withdrawing £1,539,400 – with the account left empty.
Bevan and his wife are accused of transferring the money from the Bermudan government into UK bank accounts.
They face allegations that they used £140,000 of the cash to pay off the mortgage of their home in Orchid Court, Cwmbran.
Bevan allegedly used the money to buy two Mercedes-Benz cars, in December 2012 and February 2013.
Jurors heard the money was invested in a property in Newport, two flats in Glasgow, six properties in Swansea and two units in Nottingham.
Bevan denies three counts of transferring criminal property and 10 counts of converting criminal property.
His wife, a former headmistress, denies two counts of transferring criminal property and one count of converting criminal property.
Friend Joel Ismail, 42, of from Hall Farm Crescent in Leicester, denies four charges of converting criminal property.
Financial adviser Paul Charity, 52, of Bushey Close in Leicester, denies three counts of converting criminal property and one count of perverting the course of justice.
The trial continues.