FORMER councillor Bernice Swift is due to appear in court next week on charges of fraud and false accounting.
Ms Swift (54) of Glenlevan Road, Derrygonnelly is charged with 14 counts of fraud by abuse of position, and six counts of furnishing a false account, with the charges relating to dates between November 28, 2018 and September, 2019.
Her husband Kevin Martin (46), of the same address, and another defendant, Roisin Conlon (46) of Landbrock Road, Newtownbutler, face the same charges.
All three are due before Dungannon Magistrates Court on January 8 for a first appearance preliminary enquiry (PE). It is not known if the case will be heard on that day.
If it proceeds, the case will likely be sent forward to the crown court where the defendants will be arraigned, and if pleading not guilty, it will be sent for trial.
The charges against the three defendants include allegations the defendants abused their positions and did not act in the best interests of the Victims and Survivors Service by claiming cheques for travel expenses and for a hotel stay in Armagh.
It is also alleged they dishonestly abused their positions by claiming cheques had been paid out to a number of different parties, including McPhillips Digital Media, Fitzpatrick Fuels, Armagh Graphics, and G&A Travel.
In relation to the false accounting charges, it is alleged the defendants dishonestly furnished “information produced or made use of a certain account or record or document required for an accounting purpose” which to their knowledge “was or might be misleading, false or deceptive.”
The charges name receipts for stays at the Armagh City Hotel, the Westport Hotel, the Hodson Bay Hotel [in Athlone], and the Four Seasons Hotel as the materials in question.
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