Claims by the defence that the charges against the Express Motors management team in the concessionary fares’ fraud case should be thrown out because of insufficient evidence, failed at Caernarfon Crown Court on the thirteenth day of the trial.
Eric Wyn Jones and his three sons Ian, Keith and Kevin pleaded not guilty to conspiring together, and with others unknown, to commit fraud by false representation in that they instructed others to falsely swipe concessionary fare cards, did themselves falsely swipe concessionary fare cards and made false claims to Gwynedd County Council.
They also pleaded not guilty to conspiring to hide, conceal, convert and disguise criminal property, namely money from Express Motors, by failing to account for all cash taken, failing to pay tax on those takings, and paying it into their personal bank accounts without declaring it as income [routeone/Court Report/12 September].
Judge Timothy Petts dismissed defence arguments that the fact that they might have known what was occurring, which was not accepted, was not enough to find them guilty of conspiracy. The fact that driver Rheinallt Williams had already pleaded guilty [routeone/News/ 29 August] showed that there was a conspiracy.
He accepted the prosecution argument that the money paid into their personal bank accounts could become “criminal property” the moment it was not paid into the company’s bank account.
Eric Wyn Jones said that he had claimed from the County Council what the computer told him to claim. There was no way he could inflate the claims and there were a number of times that they had under claimed.
The Council started investigating after they had taken services over from Padarn Bus at the Council’s request.
After he was arrested, the Council deducted £15,000 a month from their claims.
That was repaid after they told the Council they would have to withdraw services. If a card was lost the Council should have cancelled it but they did not. He accepted that he became aware of fraudulent cards in the system. There was no limit on the number of times a person could use their card.
He had very rarely used his own card. He had lost his wallet with his card in and he did not report the loss to the Council.
He had never used his card fraudulently or instructed anyone to do so. He eventually found his wallet and when he tried to use his card it would not work. He assumed the Council had cancelled it.
If a passenger was unable to use their card, he would swipe his own for them. He denied telling drivers to do fraudulent swipes or encourage passengers to swipe their cards. He denied telling drivers to fraudulently swipe cards or to encourage passengers to swipe their cards a number of times. Rhenallt Williams had said that it looked better if he was carrying more passengers on his shift.
As far as he knew all the money was properly banked in the firm’s accounts. He had ceased to work full-time seven or eight years ago and by 2012 he did not know what was going on day-to-day in the firm.
On occasions he lent the firm money, using his credit card to pay for spare parts and when the County Council cheque came he was paid back.
Ian was in charge of maintenance and the same occurred if he used his personal credit card to pay for spare parts. Kevin was not involved in the County Council claims in 2012. Keith was responsible for running the continental touring side and he was away abroad for days and weeks at a time.
The trial is continuing.
