Gerry Moane
A PROMINENT Fermanagh GAA figure who has been jailed for 16 months after admitting to a £1.3m VAT fraud, has claimed he was under the influence of loyalist paramilitaries.
Gerry Moane, of Teighsill Road, Brookeboro, admitted to 21 counts of submitting false VAT returns on amounts varying from £17,875 to £132, 150 in a period from March 1, 2006 and January 1, 2012.
The 47-year-old farmer also claimed that loyalist paramilitaries had created the invoices, and he was obliged to submit them.
Moane then further claimed he had had been threatened by paramilitaries and added that in 2010 he was seriously assaulted by those paramilitaries when he tried to break free.
The father-of-six is a well know GAA figure in Fermanagh and was a candidate to manage the senior county team before Peter Canavan took over in 2012.
He was also a former manager of the Tyrone Ladies Gaelic Football team.
In sentencing Moane to sixteen months in jail, with 20 months on licence, Judge Gemma Loughran said she could not take these claims into account, as Moane had not given any previous evidence that he had been acting under duress.
The judge initially jailed Moane for three years but reduced the sentence when all factors were taken into account.
He was also jailed for acquiring criminal property a VAT form in the same period.
Although he pleaded guilty to a total of £1.3m VAT fraud, Judge Loughran said he was being sentenced for a total of £765,547.45 as that was the amount of cash lost to the Revenue and Customs.
The court heard earlier from prosecuting counsel Jonathan Lowry that Moane had applied in April 1994 to be the sole proprietor of a farm and then he branched out into contracting.
Officers became suspicious in 2011, when a claim for purchase of machinery in 2010 was false.
When they subsequently searched his farm, they found 31 false VAT claims.
The total loss to the State was £765,547.45 and a confiscation order was made.
Judge Gemma Moane initially jailed Moane for three years in jail with 18 months on licence.
Judge Loughran noted that Moane’s crime was sustained and professional and had gone on for six years.
She said that revenue crime was a very serious crime and the money lost is money from which the whole community is deprived.
“It funds services like Health and Education and the loss of £1m is very substantial.
“You have no money to repay but as it is a serious crime it must be dealt with in a serious manner by the court.”
The judge noted that Moane had commanded very high respect in his family.
She also noted that the non- smoker and non -drinker was an “exemplary member of the community”.
Defence Counsel Jim Gallagher told the court earlier that Gerry Moane had been a “pillar of the community”.
He had been a major influence for good in Fermanagh and Tyrone and had helped raise funds for cancer.
He had a completely clean record before this incident and had a large number of references handed in to court.
His pre-sentence report showed very little risk of re-offending.
Mr Gallagher said his instructions were that his client got not money from the evens and was obliged to hand it over to other parties.
And his client had not given any evidence against these parties, for obvious reasons.
His client had also suffered from depression, as had his wife.
References were read out from a number of parties in support of the defendant including one from Father Brian D’Arcy and a reference from Brookeboro GAA was also in court.
And a life long friend Mr McManus also gave an oral testament that the defendant would go out of his way to help others.
He added that Gerry Moane had also given outstanding service to his local GAA club.
A number of letters were also read out in court including one from his daughter Dympna who said her father was someone they all really looked up to and was a loving father.
The court also heard from Gerry Moane’s wife Dympna who described him as a wonderful husband.
However Judge Loughran added said she was tempering justice with mercy by reducing an original three years jail sentence to 16 months in jail, with 20 month released on licence.
The judge said it was “a shame that a man of your character was before the court but I can’t ignore a long period of criminal activity”.
The judge said it pained her to have to jail a “man like you who is highly respected in his community and who has made such a contribution to his community”.
“But I would be abdicating my duty to justice if I allowed personal mitigating factors to influence me unduly,” she concluded.
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