A West Clare bank manager has been jailed for four years after he stole nearly 450,000 euro from customers to pay off a 3 million euro debt he had run up from failed property investments.
54 year old Kevin Jarlath Mitchell had been working as a branch manager in ACC Bank in Kilrush when the 19 year long fraud was uncovered.
Kevin Jarlath Mitchell came before Dublin Circuit Court having pleaded guilty to charges of theft, obtaining money under false pretences and falsifying a DIRT compliance certificate between January 1993 and February 2012.
The court heard that Mitchell stole 197,000 euro from a 78-year-old customer – John Patrick Ryan – leading him to believe he had been depositing his cash in a high interest deposit account for 19 years.
Mitchell – who now lives in Dublin – also stole 250,000 euro from long-term friends and customers, Patrick and Susan Flanagan – lodging their investments in his own credit union account.
None of the cash was recovered but ACC bank fully reimbursed Mr Ryan and the Flanagans – and Mitchell has since handed over his 600,000 euro pension to compensate the bank.
The court heard that since the fraud was uncovered, the father of five’s marriage has broken down, and he’s effectively exiled himself from Kilrush.
Judge Martin Nolan accepted Kevin Jarlath Mitchell was co-operative and remorseful, and though prison would be difficult for him, he said he must impose a somewhat harsh term for general deterrence and punishment.
