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6 years jail for garlic scam

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    #632
    TheFisherKing
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 69 ✭✭TheFisherKing


    Media999 wrote: »
    Someone steals 1.6 mill off the state in a time where people cant afford to feed their kids and the judge is wrong for locking him up? ****ing laughable.

    I'd rather see some of those that get off for serious vicious assaults locked up than someone who cheats the state out of tax and I don't care how much they swindled quite frankly, as the first priority for our courts should be to keep our streets safe from c**ts that might put our lives at risk.


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    #633
    Media999
    Registered Users Posts: 1,687 ✭✭✭Media999


    FrogMarch wrote: »
    Yeah but the government who have stolen billions from the people of Ireland are the ones who jailed him. See the hypocrisy there? No of course not. I didn't expect you would.

    Ah i see . Its all ok now. Sure let the scumbag off with it so.


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    #634
    Media999
    Registered Users Posts: 1,687 ✭✭✭Media999


    Curly Judge wrote: »
    You should get back to playing with your dongles and leave the entrepreneurs of this country to running business and creating employment.

    I didn't notice you getting quite so worked up over the SIPTU chancers who stole 2.35 million from hospital patients and merely got moved sideways.

    What a sad bastard going through someones previous posts. What a sad pathetic bastard.


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    #635
    listermint
    Registered Users Posts: 33,640 ✭✭✭✭listermint


    Media999 wrote: »
    What a sad bastard going through someones previous posts. What a sad pathetic bastard.

    Ha you were caught out.

    Thats classic.


    Welcome to the internet - oh and reported!!


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    #636
    Super-Rush
    Registered Users Posts: 19,473 ✭✭✭✭Super-Rush


    Media999 banned.


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    #637
    gizmo555
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,948 ✭✭✭gizmo555


    Looks as though Mr Begley wasn't the only one to profit from this - Swedish authorities have issued arrest warrants for two British men whom they allege owe €10m in duty on garlic smuggled into the EU through Norway:

    (STOCKHOLM) — Swedish prosecutors have issued international arrest warrants for two Britons suspected of masterminding a smuggling ring involving Chinese garlic.

    The men first shipped the garlic to Norway by boat, where it entered the country duty-free since it was considered to be in transit, prosecutor Thomas Ahlstrand said Wednesday. They then drove large shipments of garlic across the Norwegian-Swedish border, avoiding customs checks and thus Swedish import duties.

    Ahlstrand said the men avoided paying some €10 million ($13.1 million) in Swedish taxes with the scheme, which took place in 2009 and 2010. A lengthy police investigation led to the identification of the two Britons.


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    #638
    Pal
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,115 ✭✭✭Pal


    Begley gets a sentence review.

    Proper order too.


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    #639
    phoenix999
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 581 ✭✭✭phoenix999


    Sentence has just been set aside for now:

    http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0122/363908-paul-begley-garlic-court/


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    #640
    Death and Taxes
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,775 ✭✭✭Death and Taxes


    phoenix999 wrote: »
    Sentence has just been set aside for now:

    http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0122/363908-paul-begley-garlic-court/

    But he remains in custody pending a new sentencing hearing, pity he didn't rape his daughter 500+ times then he would have got bail!:mad:


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    #641
    JohnOShock
    Registered Users Posts: 15 ✭JohnOShock


    Ridiculous! Priorities are lost in Judicial Ireland. Solicitors and barristers are only concerned with filling their own pockets. All reasons to promote emigration. I feel so glad to be thousands of miles away from the circus they have made of my homeland.
    Rapists walk while people trying to survive the crazy tax regime in Ireland get penalised unfairly.....
    Living in a country where sales tax is reasonable, business creation and employment is supported and entrepreneurship puts a lot into perspective... and I ain't talkin' America.... Asia is the new economic force, learn from them, they've always had it hard.....
    and get the priorities in order :cool:


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    #642
    hollster2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,199 ✭✭✭hollster2


    and a self confessed rapist gets free whats happened to this country


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    #643
    JohnOShock
    Registered Users Posts: 15 ✭JohnOShock


    @ Media999: please do :p


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    #644
    Death and Taxes
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,775 ✭✭✭Death and Taxes


    Media999 wrote: »
    Ah i see . Its all ok now. Sure let the scumbag off with it so.

    Nobody is suggesting he be let off. As the CCA stated today he would never have been convicted had it not for him co-operating, plus he pleaded guilty, paid back the money plus interest and penalties, that hardly warrants the maximum available sentence.


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    #645
    Pal
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,115 ✭✭✭Pal


    I think most reasoned people will agree with you.

    the sentence is ridiculous. Rapists walk free. Scumbags stamp a Pole to death for a buzz and get 6 years.

    For all you people thinking of Gathering here.
    Welcome to Ireland.


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    #646
    dirtyden
    Registered Users Posts: 1,730 ✭✭✭dirtyden


    WileyCoyote (Accelleratii Incredibus!) wrote: »
    Nobody is suggesting he be let off. As the CCA stated today he would never have been convicted had it not for him co-operating, plus he pleaded guilty, paid back the money plus interest and penalties, that hardly warrants the maximum available sentence.

    Did they say that? I thought he was caught pretty much red handed and the fact that he pleaded guilty and assisted the authorities while commendable was probably an attempt to get a realtively soft sentence.

    His sentence was overly harsh but i do think some kind of custodial sentence was fair. He only cooperated because he was caught. If he was not caught he would still be swindling the state of millions in taxes and putting legitamate businesses to the wall. A year would have been enough though not 6.


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    #647
    Stheno
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 51,687 Mod ✭✭✭✭Stheno


    dirtyden wrote: »
    Did they say that? I thought he was caught pretty much red handed and the fact that he pleaded guilty and assisted the authorities while commendable was probably an attempt to get a realtively soft sentence.

    His sentence was overly harsh but i do think some kind of custodial sentence was fair. He only cooperated because he was caught. If he was not caught he would still be swindling the state of millions in taxes and putting legitamate businesses to the wall. A year would have been enough though not 6.


    They did
    Presiding judge Mr Justice Liam McKechnie found that mitigating factors in the case had not been "appropriately or properly valued".

    Mitigating factors mentioned during the court hearing included the fact that Begley had fully co-operated with the investigation and had reached a settlement of €1.6 million with the Revenue Commissioners, a payment schedule which had been adhered to and which is due to be paid in full later this year.

    And from the Sindo
    Appeal court judge Mr Justice Liam McKechnie warned the tax evasion was a serious matter carried out with premeditation over a period of time for personal gain, so the sentence should be based on punishment and general deterrence.

    However, he told the court that the mitigating factors against the lengthy sentence had been striking.

    He said Begley supplied chapter and verse in the case against him, which was unprecedented.

    "In effect, the book of evidence was entirely supplied by the appellant," the judge added.


  • Options
    #648
    dirtyden
    Registered Users Posts: 1,730 ✭✭✭dirtyden


    It did not say that he would not have been convicted if he did not cooperate, which is what your post said, just that he provided the book of evidence. He was caught red handed so he cooperated which is an entirely different thing to what you originally indicated. The fact that the customs officers found tonnes of crates of garlic labelled and with the duty paid as apples was evidence enough to convict him. His cooperation as in all cases was to provide mitigation for sentencing which the trial judge chose not to apply.


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    #649
    Milk & Honey
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,950 ✭✭✭Milk & Honey


    dirtyden wrote: »
    The fact that the customs officers found tonnes of crates of garlic labelled and with the duty paid as apples was evidence enough to convict him.
    It would certainly not be enough to convict him. The labels on the boxes are hearsay. He could have forced them to produce a book of evidence showing that he knew all about the scam, that he intended it and that it was not a mistake by the Chinese. He could have contested all of the evidence at a trial. lastly, because it was a jury trial there was a risk that three or more jurors would have refused to convict anyway, given the nature of the offence.
    The reality is that he had a sporting chance of getting off if he brazened it out. Many criminal defendants do.This is invariably recognised in a discount of sentence when there is a guilty plea and co-operation.


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    #650
    Pal
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,115 ✭✭✭Pal


    dirtyden wrote: »
    It did not say that he would not have been convicted if he did not cooperate, which is what your post said, just that he provided the book of evidence. He was caught red handed so he cooperated which is an entirely different thing to what you originally indicated. The fact that the customs officers found tonnes of crates of garlic labelled and with the duty paid as apples was evidence enough to convict him. His cooperation as in all cases was to provide mitigation for sentencing which the trial judge chose not to apply.

    Rubbish.
    He was caught with one truck.
    about €50k worth of garlic.

    He owned up to the ongoing scam which customs had no knowledge of.
    He showed them how he did it. Paid his tax. Paid his fine. Admitted his guilt and did not contest it. Then got no mitigation that you speak of and was hammered by the Judge.

    Lesson learned. Tell them nothing.


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    #651
    Stovepipe
    Registered Users Posts: 2,979 ✭✭✭Stovepipe


    Like I said before, you don't know what he got away with in the past, you don't know how many other people are pulling scams like this and have gotten away with it. It was a clever scam and there might be other clever scams out there, costing us taxpayers money, so he should be banged up, even if only for a shorter period, even if only as a warning to other importers.

    regards
    Stovepipe


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    #652
    gizmo555
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,948 ✭✭✭gizmo555


    Pal wrote: »
    Rubbish.
    He was caught with one truck.
    about €50k worth of garlic.

    He owned up to the ongoing scam which customs had no knowledge of.

    110% wrong . . .
    gizmo555 wrote: »
    Read the report on the court case.

    Revenue Officer Denis Twohig said the scam was uncovered on October 9, 2007 when customs officers at Dublin Port investigated a container that was supposed to contain 18 tonnes of apples and two tonnes of garlic. When they looked inside they found 21 tonnes of garlic and no apples.

    Following the find, Revenue officers began an investigation into previous imports by the company.

    During a search of the headquarters, officers seized a series of emails between Begley and his garlic supplier in China which were exchanged over the course of four years.

    The emails told the supplier to falsify the import documents to describe the shipments as apples rather than garlic.

    He admitted it because he couldn't deny it - Revenue and Customs had caught him red handed . . .


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    #653
    Caliden
    Registered Users Posts: 5,982 ✭✭✭Caliden


    Rapists don't even get 6 years so why is this guy getting the book thrown at him?


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    #654
    Muilleann
    Registered Users Posts: 54 ✭✭Muilleann


    Sentence was crazy in first place but is'nt first time Judge Nolan got things wrong.


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    #655
    dirtyden
    Registered Users Posts: 1,730 ✭✭✭dirtyden


    Milk & Honey wrote: »
    It would certainly not be enough to convict him. The labels on the boxes are hearsay. He could have forced them to produce a book of evidence showing that he knew all about the scam, that he intended it and that it was not a mistake by the Chinese. He could have contested all of the evidence at a trial. lastly, because it was a jury trial there was a risk that three or more jurors would have refused to convict anyway, given the nature of the offence.
    The reality is that he had a sporting chance of getting off if he brazened it out. Many criminal defendants do.This is invariably recognised in a discount of sentence when there is a guilty plea and co-operation.

    You need to get your facts correct. He was caught red handed so he owned up. He is not a hero he is a crook/thief/fraudster. His sentence was slightly harsh but people here suggesting that his cooperation was some kind of altruistic act really need to have a think. There was more than enough evidence to convict him as was pointed out previously on this thread and his fraud was massive.


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    #656
    Buddy97mm
    Registered Users Posts: 559 ✭✭✭Buddy97mm


    This "gentleman" was caught red-handed attempting to defraud the State and, by consequence, every taxpayer and welfare recipient in the country. Admittedly, he co-operated with the prosecution and repaid the money involved.

    However, he obtained a competitive advanatge by mis-declaring his garlic imports and the 1.6m involved would pay for a lot of nurses, SNAs, etc.

    The notion that by co-operating and repaying the money involved renders it somehow ok, implies that that all criminal fraudsters, if caught, should only effectively get a slap on the wrist - by repaying the money (only after being caught), this criminal ulimately got an interest free loan from the State, which he would not have repaid had he not been caught.


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    #657
    Death and Taxes
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,775 ✭✭✭Death and Taxes


    Buddy97mm wrote: »
    This "gentleman" was caught red-handed attempting to defraud the State and, by consequence, every taxpayer and welfare recipient in the country. Admittedly, he co-operated with the prosecution and repaid the money involved.

    However, he obtained a competitive advanatge by mis-declaring his garlic imports and the 1.6m involved would pay for a lot of nurses, SNAs, etc.

    The notion that by co-operating and repaying the money involved renders it somehow ok, implies that that all criminal fraudsters, if caught, should only effectively get a slap on the wrist - by repaying the money (only after being caught), this criminal ulimately got an interest free loan from the State, which he would not have repaid had he not been caught.

    A few points.
    Firstly I dont think anyone is saying what he did is ok, what people have an issue with was the absurd sentence he was hit with given all the circumstances.
    Secondly, he did not get an interest free loan from the state as he was also hit with both interest and penalties on top of the amount of duty he evaded.
    It does nobody any good either to misrepresent the reasons people are unhappy about the sentence or to misrepresent what the guy actually did.


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    #658
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,074 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    Muilleann wrote: »
    Sentence was crazy in first place but is'nt first time Judge Nolan got things wrong.
    Quoted for truth. Nolan is a guy who has been in the spotlight for unreal "judgements" in the past. Fines instead of gaol time for sexual assault for example. A bloke (with four previous convictions for assault BTW) committed a violent sexual assualt avoided gaol on condition he pay 15,000 as compensation to the woman. This "judge" suspended the sentence of a man convicted of violently attacking three women again with the proviso he paid 12,000 as compensation. Another scumbag who sexually assaulted two of his nieces avoided a gaol after the judge reckoned publication of his name will be punishment enough.

    Now no doubt some will witter on about "the law" and these bewigged balloonheads know their stuff and that they're restricted from harsher sentencing blah bloody blah, but I'm quite sure in the case of assault they have the option of handing down Gaol time, but instead this hammerhead hands out fines? I mean, what the jumping fúck? Garlic man is just another example of the long list of utter daftness coming from what passes for the Irish judiciary.

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



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    #659
    Milk & Honey
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,950 ✭✭✭Milk & Honey


    dirtyden wrote: »
    You need to get your facts correct. He was caught red handed so he owned up. He is not a hero he is a crook/thief/fraudster. His sentence was slightly harsh but people here suggesting that his cooperation was some kind of altruistic act really need to have a think. There was more than enough evidence to convict him as was pointed out previously on this thread and his fraud was massive.

    My facts are straight. Just because there was evidence to convict him does not mean he would have been convicted. He owned up and that should have been taken into account in mitigation. He pleaded guilty so he is obviously a crook but his motive in pleading guilty is less relevant than the fact that he did it. If people own up and still get the maximum sentence why wouldn't they simply say nothing and make the prosecution work as hard as possible and possibly get away completely with the offence.

    All evidence can be challenged and it is well possible that some might have been excluded. There is no certainty in a court case.


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    #660
    The Road Runner
    Closed Accounts Posts: 304 ✭✭The Road Runner


    Just heard on the radio that the review for his sentencing will be held today. hopefully a bit of common sense will be shown


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    #661
    Dude111
    Registered Users Posts: 1,771 ✭✭✭Dude111


    Yes lets hope so.... This whole thing is stupid!!

    Garlic?????


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