Woman faces jail over forged cheques

A woman forged and cashed cheques from a business she owned with her partner to pay gambling debts, even though the account did not have sufficient funds.

Elmira Hovsepayn was told by a judge she could face jail for her crimes, which were detailed to Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.

She set up a dry-cleaning firm in the Model Farm Rd area of Cork city with her partner of the time, Mihails Volkovs. However, Mr Volkovs did not know they had been sent a company cheque book for their joint business account by AIB.

Hovsepayn, 34, started writing cheques to herself, even though there was not enough money in the account to honour them. As she had a long-standing account with Bank of Ireland, there was no “stop” put on the cheques to await them clearing when she lodged them in BoI branches.

She would then withdraw the money from her account straight away via an ATM.

“She would lodge it into the account, then use the ATM of the same branch to withdraw €600 or €700,” said Det Sgt Tim Murphy.

The offences happened in a nine-day period in Feb 2010 and Hovsepayn, of Melbourn Court, Model Farm Rd admitted everything when questioned by gardaí in May 2011.

Two months later, Permanent TSB reported to Det Sgt Murphy that cheques from the same account, appearing to be signed by Mr Volkovs and made payable to Hovsepayn, had been lodged. She had withdrawn cash and the bank was at a loss of €1,888.38.

Last February, she pleaded guilty to 39 charges, including theft, forging cheques from her business, and using those cheques.

The court heard yesterday cheques with a value of €47,828 were lodged and she withdrew €15,020.

Her barrister, Sinead Behan, told Judge Patrick Moran the only way the case could be properly understood was in the context of gambling.

The judge heard the Armenian mother-of-three, who has lived here for 15 years and is now an Irish citizen, put up €1,600 towards compensating the banks. But deferring sentencing until Feb 27, Judge Moran said her offer was only about 10% of what was owed.

“If she wants to stay out of Limerick Prison, she will have to make a greater effort,” he said.