Man who robbed church collection boxes in Cork to be sentenced for money-laundering

CCTV on accused's phone showed huge house in Romania where a large volume of notes and coins in multiple denominations were being counted on a kitchen table, court heard

In January 2021, accused was caught with an AIB bank card for an account in someone else’s name and in an examination of the account over the previous four years it was established that over €228,000 had passed through it. File picture: Larry Cummins

A 57-year-old man who used a wire hook to fish money out of church collection boxes was caught in a money-laundering investigation with live CCTV coverage from a huge house in Romania where a large volume of notes and coins in multiple denominations were being counted on a kitchen table.

The CCTV was on Chilimbar Vasile’s phone and it covered his own property in Romania where he also had three powerful cars, Detective Garda David Kelleher said at the sentencing hearing.

Describing the extensive scale of the Romanian property, it was established through Interpol enquiries there was no mortgage against the house, which is owned by the defendant.

In January 2021, Vasile was caught with an AIB bank card for an account in someone else’s name and in an examination of the account over the previous four years it was established that over €228,000 had passed through it.

He had no visible means of income and told investigating gardaí his money came from selling The Big Issue and begging.

The father of 11 children was in receipt of €455 a week in disability allowance and had also received a total of €164,000 in rent allowance over a number of years while living in Cork.

He was convicted previously of stealing from church collection boxes at locations that included Carrigtwohill, Cloyne and Dungarvan.

He was faced sentencing on Thursday for money-laundering in Cork in respect of a sum of over a €250,000 in a bank account.

Guilty plea

Chilimbar Vasile, of 13A Eagle Valley, Sarsfield Road, Wilton, Cork pleaded guilty to the count stating that on September 24, 2019, proceeds of criminal conduct, namely the money, was credited to an AIB account in another name, knowing or being reckless as to whether it was the proceeds of crime.

Garda Kelleher said the sum of money, in the AIB account in question, was €228,274.

Judge Colin Daly said at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, “There is a lot to consider,” and he adjourned sentencing until June 21.

Siobhán Lankford, defence senior counsel, said although it was to a limited extent, the accused had cooperated with the investigation.

Ms Lankford also suggested that cases such as this were difficult in terms of proofs for the prosecution and that his plea of guilty would have been of assistance. This was accepted by Det Garda Kelleher.

In relation to evidence of a large property in Romania, Ms Lankford said there was a family background to the ownership of this property, that he had 11 children and that “property [in Romania] is not as expensive as Ireland.” 

The defence senior counsel also said: “He has behaved himself since his arrest. It has been a salutary lesson for him. If given an opportunity to prove himself he would never engage in activity like this again.”