Bank manager cleared of laundering building-fraud money

A former building society manager accused of laundering money which was allegedly the proceeds of tax fraud by members of the construction industry has been found not guilty by direction of Judge Martin Nolan.

It was the third day of the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial of Shane Sutton (aged 42), of Glenbrien, The Lodge, Howth Road, Clontarf.

Mr Sutton had pleaded not guilty to 47 charges of money laundering and had denied handling cheques knowing or believing them to directly or indirectly represent another person’s criminal activity on dates between December 28, 2000 and April 4, 2003.

Judge Nolan directed the jury to acquit Mr Sutton on all counts following submissions from defence counsel Diarmaid McGuinness SC (with Sean Guerin BL).

Colm O Briain BL, prosecuting, had opened the case to the jury on Thursday but the hearing had since continued in legal argument in the absence of the jury.

On Friday Judge Nolan said he would direct the jury to acquit Mr Sutton on 26 of the charges due to the prosecution’s difficulty in proving the origin of cheques. This afternoon / Yesterday (Monday) he directed that Mr Sutton be found not guilty of all counts.

It had been alleged that between late 2000 and 2003 Mr Sutton received 63 cheques with a total value of €1.1m which were made out to third parties involved in the building trade and were the proceeds of tax fraud.