A credit union for Citybus workers was forced to close after the chair of its board of directors stole over €100K through a series of frauds and thefts, a court has heard.
Retired bus driver David Stamper, 68, joined Citybus Employees Credit Union as a volunteer in 1994 before joining the board of directors in 1997.
He became chair of the board in 2013 and began misappropriating credit union funds in 2009.
Stamper, of The Crescent, Abbeyfarm, Celbridge, Co. Kildare, was brought forward to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court following 82 signed guilty pleas in the District Court and was jailed for a year yesterday. He admitted ten counts of forgery, 41 counts of theft and 31 counts of money laundering between August 2009 and September 2015.
Stamper was in charge of buying prizes for credit union 'car draws', in which the top prize was a car, football tickets or hotel breaks. In May 2016, an accountant who took on the position of financial officer discovered "discrepancies in the members' draw", Detective Garda Mairéad Murphy told Eoin Lawlor BL, prosecuting.
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It was later discovered Stamper asked staff who signed cheques to buy prizes for draws to sign blank cheques for him. He would then fill out cheques for a larger amount than was required, lodge the cheque to his own account, issue a cheque for the correct amount and pocket the difference, Det Garda Murphy said.
The court heard Stamper issued false cheques totalling €351,642 and took a profit of €107,730.
A victim impact statement from the credit union spoke of the "devastating impact" Stamper's behaviour had on his colleagues.
It described Stamper as having "shattered the trust" of credit union members and said stress caused to staff and volunteers "cannot be overstated".
The statement outlined the "reputational damage" caused to the credit union and said the cost of investigation expenses on top of stolen funds led to it closing in 2019. The statement concluded this additional cost, including auditors and legal fees not entirely covered by their insurance company, was paid by credit union members.
Yesterday, Judge Dara Hayes said Stamper's actions in stealing from the credit union over a six-year period had a "devastating effect" on its members and ultimately led to it ceasing to exist. Although the credit union was partially reimbursed by its insurer, it was still left at a considerable loss, the judge said.
Judge Hayes said a custodial sentence was necessary given the significant breach of trust and the length of the period of offending. He handed down a sentence of two-and-a-half years and suspended the final 18 months.
