'Fall Guy' jailed for 'disastrous' role in 'murky' north-south plant leasing scam

A 66-year-old man from Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison following his guilty plea to deception offences at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Charles Mavitty pleaded guilty to inducing two Dublin-based finance companies to approve lease agreements for Hitachi excavators in April 2017 using forged documents, including false utility bills, bank statements, and tax clearance certificates. The two machines, weighing 13 and 22 tonnes respectively, were never located. Bluestone Asset Finance and Finance Ireland suffered combined losses exceeding €240,000. Judge Martin Nolan described Mavitty as a "front man" and "vital cog" in the fraud but acknowledged mitigating factors including his previously unblemished record, family circumstances, and unlikely prospect of reoffending. Defence counsel argued Mavitty was a "pawn" manipulated by others involved in what was described as a "murky world" of plant leasing fraud extending across the island.