High Court varies freezing order in Bóthar action against David Moloney

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The High Court varied a freezing order against former Bóthar CEO David Moloney when the charity’s civil action returned before Mr Justice Senan Allen on 14 May 2021. Moloney had previously admitted that he and others had misappropriated large amounts donated to the charity for personal use.

The proceedings were reported on 14 May 2021. The court heard that Moloney had taken significant quantities of donated cash over 21 years. In a sworn statement, he said he spent cash on family holidays and friends, paid much of the misappropriated money to others, including the late Bóthar founder Peter Ireton, and had neither banked nor kept the cash he took.

Bóthar did not accept his explanation of what happened to the funds. The judge nevertheless found plausible his claim that the stolen cash had all been spent.

Based on Moloney’s admissions, the judge increased the value below which the freezing order prevented him from reducing his assets from €769,000 to €1.1 million. He permitted the release of €13,000 from a credit union account towards Moloney’s legal fees and payments from accounts in his name towards essential living expenses, including childcare, insurance and mortgage repayments.

The judge dismissed an application by Olive Moloney to vary the orders, calling it misconceived. She had sought money for legal fees and family living expenses; the judge said it would essentially come from her husband. No allegations of wrongdoing had been made against her.

Moloney had admitted misappropriating €127,000 paid for purported Rwanda projects that were never carried out, and that €100,000 of charity money was fraudulently paid in 2016 into a pension fund he set up for himself. The matter was the subject of a Garda investigation, and the civil case was due back in court the following month.