Irish person interviewed by gardaí investigating international Covid-19 fraud

- with reporting from Vivienne Clarke

An Irish person has been interviewed as part of an investigation into a major Covid-19 fraud operation.

An inquiry was launched after a fake order was placed for millions of masks destined for Germany.

German officials contracted a Germany company to purchase 10 million face masks worth around €15. to help in the fight against Covid 19.

This Germany company was put in contact with a Dutch one through an Irish intermediary to place an order for 11 million masks worth up to €7.7m.

However this order was made through a fraudulent entity who had cloned the website and email address of the legitimate Dutch company.

A €1.5m down payment was made for the delivery of the first million masks to an Irish bank account based in Roscommon. The German company also made a further payment of €880,000 to the fraudulent)Dutch company’s bank account.

Gardaí said €498,000 was transferred to a UK account and onward to a Nigerian account. Due to international co-operation, that money was recalled from the Nigerian bank account. A further €125,000 was transferred into another Dutch account.

In late March, reps from the German and Irish companies met in Amsterdam to inspect and oversee the handover of the shipment – but it never materialised.

An investigation was launched and €1.5m has since been frozen in an Irish bank account.

An Irish citizen was interviewed on suspicion of laundering €1.5m last Friday.

The person was interviewed by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB).

Gardaí said it was relating “to the suspected laundering of €1.5. in this jurisdiction, contrary to section 7 of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Acts 2010 to 2018.”

They said the "serious offence" carries "a maximum term of imprisonment of 14 years after conviction on indictment".

Gardaí added that documents and electronic devices were obtained and are currently being forensically examined.

'Sophisticated'

Chief Supt Pat Lordan, of the GNECB, revealed details of the ‘sophisticated’ €15million Covid-19 fraud this morning.

Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, Chief Supt Lordain explained that the fraud occurred when German health authorities attempted to purchase face masks from a reputable website which was cloned.

“The purchaser went onto a website which he thought was a genuine website of a genuine company in Spain, but he wasn't on that website at all.

“He was on a fictitious cloned website which was not real. So, despite the fact that he thought he was purchasing €14.7million worth of face masks, they did not exist on this website, he was never going to get not even one mask.

“We have identified a bank account in Ireland where €1.5m came into from abroad. Working with the financial institutions here in Ireland, the money has been frozen, and the money will be returned.

“We are currently working to establish why did this money come into the account, where it came from and what that person knew about the whole scam that was going on.”

Chief Supt Lordan said that the operation commenced a number of weeks ago and that following a request for assistance from Interpol the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau.

“We are working with police forces in Germany, in Holland and Spain, a number of people were arrested in Holland during the week and further arrests will be anticipated.”