Four directors of Caernarfon-based Express Motors (Penygroes) Ltd and three employees have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud involving the concessionary travel reimbursement scheme.
The directors, Eric Wyn Jones, Ian Wyn Jones, Keith Jones, Kevin Wyn Jones and employees Michael Munson, Rheiunallt Williams and Aled Wyn Davies, made the plea at Caernarfon Crown Court.
Ian Wyn Jones also pleaded not guilty to having counterfeit money valued at £840, intending to pass it as genuine.
The directors also denied conspiring to conceal, disguise, convert, transfer or remove money from Express Motors, by failing to account for all cash takings as business income, failing to pay taxes on cash takings, and by paying cash takings into personal bank accounts without declaring it as income.
The defendants are accused of instructed others to increase the number of concessionary passes swiped and submitted false claim forms to Gwynedd Council.
All were granted bail until the trial, expected to last six weeks, beginning on September 3.
The firm stopped operating on 31 December 2017 after having its 20-vehicle O-Licence revoked due to falsification of maintenance records.
At the same time, the associated 35-vehicle licence held by Eric Wyn Jones and Jean Ann Jones, trading as Express Motors, of the same address, was revoked on financial grounds (routeONE, Court Report, 6 September 2017.) All the firms’ vehicles are currently for sale on eBay.
A Public Inquiry on 17 January will hear an application by Express Motors Caernarfon Ltd, of the same address, for a fresh licence. The firm’s sole director and shareholder is Rhian Wyn Davies.
