20230615 - Man who robbed church collection boxes in Cork to be sentenced for money-laundering

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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.

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.
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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.

​www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-41163277.html