Bothar Charity under investigation

Clareman

OK folks, this is a topic for discussion that really isn't suitable for a regional forum, not only are the mods not up to speed with the state of charities in Ireland but we aren't in a position to make judgment on any discussion on the topic. Please keep the topic to Limerick specific and we can keep the thread open.

If you would like to discuss the charity sector I would suggest the Current Affairs/IMHO forum would be an apt location for such a discussion.

freshpopcorn

Peter Ireton, the founder and former chief executive of the Limerick-based charity, Bóthar, was found dead in his home this morning, in what was described as a “personal tragedy”.

https://www.google.as/amp/s/www.breakingnews.ie/amp/ireland/founder-of-charity-bothar-found-dead-at-home-gardai-rule-out-foul-play-1113915.html

Rows Grower

freshpopcorn wrote: »

Peter Ireton, the founder and former chief executive of the Limerick-based charity, Bóthar, was found dead in his home this morning, in what was described as a “personal tragedy”.

https://www.google.as/amp/s/www.breakingnews.ie/amp/ireland/founder-of-charity-bothar-found-dead-at-home-gardai-rule-out-foul-play-1113915.html

That charity seems to be making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Beechwoodspark

Ah that’s awful. He was the founder ?

munstergirl

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Ah that’s awful. He was the founder ?

Yes he was one of the co founders. It's the CEO who took over from him that is in court at moment.

https://newsreader.ie/payments-to-second-ex-bothar-ceo-being-probed-by-charity/

In court last week Bóthar has said that as far as the board was concerned, Mr Ireton retired in 2011.


Here is an article from 2013, where he was still working for them

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20247633.html%3ftype=amp

It's very sad for all the honest people involved, it seemed to be a great charity to help the poorest feed themselves.

Hopefully the truth will come out.
It's very sad for his friends and family.
May he rest in peace.

Cherrycoke

This is so sad. My family had dealings with the charity a long time ago, and Peter was always an absolute gentleman. May he RIP.

finbarrk

Personally, I never felt comfortable knowing livestock from Ireland was being sent to the extreme heat and hunger of parts of Africa.

sydthebeat

finbarrk wrote: »

Personally, I never felt comfortable knowing livestock from Ireland was being sent to the extreme heat and hunger of parts of Africa.

... becuase they dont have cows or goats in africa ??

Rows Grower

finbarrk wrote: »

Personally, I never felt comfortable knowing livestock from Ireland was being sent to the extreme heat and hunger of parts of Africa.

A friend of mine did a lot of charity work in various parts of Africa and he told me they treat donated animals incredibly well. It's not like the beast is just dropped off without any preparation, every aspect of the animals care and needs are thought of and prepared for.

They are basically treated like a goose that lays golden eggs.

thebourke

now up to 770k!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/significant-admissions-made-by-ex-bothar-ceo-as-sum-misappropriated-rises-to-770000-40361203.html

.....

Clareman

Clareman wrote: »

OK folks, this is a topic for discussion that really isn't suitable for a regional forum, not only are the mods not up to speed with the state of charities in Ireland but we aren't in a position to make judgment on any discussion on the topic. Please keep the topic to Limerick specific and we can keep the thread open.

If you would like to discuss the charity sector I would suggest the Current Affairs/IMHO forum would be an apt location for such a discussion.

Would it be worth moving this thread to CA Clareman? I just posted before reading your mod warning so I’ve edited that now- likely to get more general posts like mine over coming days. Thanks

Clareman

Deleted User wrote: »

Would it be worth moving this thread to CA Clareman? I just posted before reading your mod warning so I’ve edited that now- likely to get more general posts like mine over coming days. Thanks

I'd hate to be accused of stifling local discussion so I won't move the whole thread as I think there is a value in keeping a Limerick thread open as the charity itself is headquartered and was founded in Limerick but this is a regional forum so we need to keep the discussion focused on Limerick rather than having it spiraling into a general charity discussion.

Clareman

Clareman wrote: »

I'd hate to be accused of stifling local discussion so I won't move the whole thread as I think there is a value in keeping a Limerick thread open as the charity itself is headquartered and was founded in Limerick but this is a regional forum so we need to keep the discussion focused on Limerick rather than having it spiraling into a general charity discussion.

Fair enough Clareman I understand.

While I’m not from Limerick, the very fact you want to keep the thread going here, I’m imagining that you Limerick people held this charity in high regard, as I did- it was Irish, it had a novel and practical purpose that engaged both children and adults alike, and I can’t remember how many times myself and my family sarcrificed Christmas presents and instead purchased a few vouchers for say a goat or some hens or whatever that were to be shipped to Africa to help poor communities improve their lives - I know I’m absolutely gobsmacked and it will really change the way I give to charities in the future.


So how is this news impacting Limerick people in particular considering it was based there?
More allegations here around fake emails in conjunction with another former member just to commit more fraud for financial gain-

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/bothar-ceo-created-fake-email-from-rwandan-official-and-used-donations-to-pay-staff-bonuses-high-court-told-40363649.html

banie01

I had posted yesterday and deleted it, but on 2nd thoughts I'd rather lay out my feeling on this one.

I posted earlier in the thread, prior to his passing.
That investigation of the previous CEO would bear fruit.
I have personal experience of the grifting carried out and the efforts made to obtain kickbacks.

In the mid to late 90' the former CEO was involved in a number of schemes both charitable and state supported that were little more than money funnels.
Other organisations such the Brothers of Charity(Bawnmore) and the now defunct Co-operation North would all likely be worth an audit after his association.
What would also be quite interesting would be a review of where in the 90's at least a fair proportion of the money was funneled.

Bothar on paper at least was always a great idea.
In practice, knowing what I did it was never charity I contributed to nor encouraged anyone else to.

Limerick Native

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/high-court-told-of-bogus-documents-and-fake-emails-in-moloney-trial-1.4552435

It just keeps flowing, I wonder where it will stop, I'd say they are only getting going.

dublin49

Standard Fare ,well run charity ,annually audited by reputable accountants ,Above reproach right up to the time they are caught out and then the scale of the deception makes you wonder how it went on for so long.

Atlantic Dawn

What company was auditing their accounts?

Limerick Native

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

What company was auditing their accounts?

A friendly one .....

dublin49

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

What company was auditing their accounts?

Grant Thorton

JustAThought

dublin49 wrote: »

Grant Thorton

Their accountant /COO should be investigated at least for gross incompetence and her license t practice taken off her. e770,000 and she didn’t notice?? Or double check - anything??? Who pays customs with e37,000 cash from a safe? And what accountant would stand over this rubbish. Pockets stuffed with that much money getting on an airplane. What utter rubbish. Did she not see the 13 month salary going out? Who does the payroll - even a child in hime schooling for the past year knows there are 12 months in a year.

So one kills himself to save the shame, one is ‘recieving treatment’ in the Uk - for what - a wart - a red face- and another is saying he’s disabled and will give some of it back via his assets if his wife agrees. Q wifey ‘divorcing/separating’ and wanting to hold into the family home while allowing the disabled man to return later.

Whats really sickening is all those farmers rearing livestock and giving it away for him to get fat and rich on and the families in Africa and Rwanda waiting for help that was given by the generosity of strangers but never came while their children starved and another generation was lost in poverty and misery.

Fair dues to the retired Priest who contacted authorities and spoke up against him when he heard his name being incorrectly used to protect their thieving ways - that took a lot of guys in this current automatically guilty priest hating environment.

I’d say 770,000 is not the end of it - these 3 cronies have been working together for 30 years and you can’t prosecute the dead. I wonder can they investigate and have a claim on his estate if necessary - I sincerely hope so.

dublin49

looking at recent scandals it is now in my opinion a reasonable position to say you cannot contribute to a charity with any confidence the donation will be used for the purpose you intended.Maybe a local charity reduces the risk but really these scandals are undermining the foundations of the charity network in this country.

wfdrun

dublin49 wrote: »

Grant Thorton

Confidentiality prevents them commenting.

A hike in their indemnity insurance more likely.

Self regulation lol.

Suppose the central bank could do better!!!

Kewreeuss

Hm. Not only can you not trust the charities, but you can’t trust the auditors either. Is that why they charge such hefty fees?

Triangle

Kewreeuss wrote: »

Hm. Not only can you not trust the charities, but you can’t trust the auditors either. Is that why they charge such hefty fees?

The auditors rely on the company being upfront as well, but there's always loopholes for crafty ceos to prevent proper audits.
Think back to RSAs 'pipeline' of future profits into one years accounts.

secondrowgal

This has my blood boiling! I’ve had a monthly standing order to Bothar for years and years. Not that it’s that much, but that’s not the point. The money was for the people of Africa, not the slime balls lining their own pockets! And in the meantime, I’ve constantly been bombarded with extra mailing begging letters. That always annoyed me anyway - I’m a regular donor, and yet they continue to pester me for more.

I’m moving my SO to Mediciens sans Frontieres. They seem to be the only reputable one out there, and that’s because they are not based in Ireland! We’re really getting a world reputation as a pack of scheming, thieving chancers.

tweek84

JustAThought wrote: »

Whats really sickening is all those farmers rearing livestock and giving it away for him to get fat and rich on and the families in Africa and Rwanda waiting for help that was given by the generosity of strangers but never came while their children starved and another generation was lost in poverty and misery.

I agree with everything you said but this, afaik all livestock used had to be purchased (probably another fiddle to be investigated here) i have relatives that reared the correct cattle that they required but when offered to Bothar they were told to sell the cattle and they would take the proceeds....they got neither the cattle or the proceeds.

Seth Brundle

Gardaí to examine documents, computers from Bóthar co-founder’s UK office

Mango Joe

Seth Brundle wrote: »

Gardaí to examine documents, computers from Bóthar co-founder’s UK office

Here's something of a bio on the above mentioned Billy Kelly.

http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/llBinder42.pdf

Mango Joe

From above linked Limerick Leader newspaper article.



This story is still being told, but whatever way it ends, the above tale of a young man who fell into a rut working a mundane office job in the City and left "in search of fortune" should be an inspiration to us all.

MarkR

Well that didn't age well.

banie01

The running total of the embezzlement uncovered at Bothar is now up to €1.1million.
https://kildare-nationalist.ie/2021/05/14/former-bothar-boss-stole-money-over-21-year-period-judge-says/

That there is worse to come on this even at stage is still quite staggering.
There is worse to come, particularly regarding where some funds were disbursed to in the 90's and noughties.

dhaughton99

secondrowgal wrote: »

This has my blood boiling! I’ve had a monthly standing order to Bothar for years and years. Not that it’s that much, but that’s not the point. The money was for the people of Africa, not the slime balls lining their own pockets! And in the meantime, I’ve constantly been bombarded with extra mailing begging letters. That always annoyed me anyway - I’m a regular donor, and yet they continue to pester me for more.

I’m moving my SO to Mediciens sans Frontieres. They seem to be the only reputable one out there, and that’s because they are not based in Ireland! We’re really getting a world reputation as a pack of scheming, thieving chancers.

I wonder if you could ask for your money back?

dublin49

this scandal due to the size and timescale demonstrates you cannot donate to a charity in Ireland with any confidence that it won't be misused or at least spent on something other than you intended .Maybe if you have a financial backround with some investigation the wheat can be separated from the chaff but for most this is not an option.

secondrowgal

dhaughton99 wrote: »

I wonder if you could ask for your money back?

I can only hope that some of it got to where it was supposed to be. I doubt I’d be entitled to any back, and to be honest, I couldn’t be arsed going after them. Too annoyed.

spring lane jack

If only Gemma Greene or Mary Cash did this
To steal from people who have nothing is a disgusting act and we all know by now sweet f#ck all will happen to him.

thebourke

what salary was the ceo on?

joebloggs32

thebourke wrote: »

what salary was the ceo on?

Clearly not enough.


We need to pay massive sslaries to attract "the best applicants"

Any respectable CEO of a charity would at least want the Taoiseach's wage

airnwater

thebourke wrote: »

what salary was the ceo on?

Most recently 100k pa afaik

chicorytip

thebourke wrote: »

what salary was the ceo on?

I saw the figure published somewhere. 35,000, I think, which is modest even for a small charity like this. Clearly, the "bonuses" available made the position attractive enough despite the low basic salary.

mgbgt1978

Post #15 on this thread links to Bothar's last published accounts (2018). The accounts state that one Staff Member was paid between 90k and 100k.
It would be fairly safe to assume that this Staff member can only be the CEO.

airnwater

chicorytip wrote: »

I saw the figure published somewhere. 35,000, I think, which is modest even for a small charity like this. Clearly, the "bonuses" available made the position attractive enough despite the low basic salary.

https://www.bothar.ie/sites/default/files/media/file-uploads/2019-07/Scanned%20signed%20Accounts%202018.pdf

P.34 , states one employee was in range of 90k - 100k in 2018 ! Guess it was David Maloney .

Pretty sure I saw 100k in a newspaper report

mrjoneill

joebloggs32 wrote: »

Clearly not enough.


We need to pay massive sslaries to attract "the best applicants"

Any respectable CEO of a charity would at least want the Taoiseach's wage

I totally disagree. Its not a commercial concern but a charitable concern. Most work for such charities for "free".

zerosugarbuzz

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Paying staff to provide professional housing support services IS going to the actual cause. You can't run a homeless hostel on volunteers. You need to pay people to provide full time expert support.

It’s not really though. The workers in these charities have rents/mortgages/families etc to pay for. That turns homelessness into an industry, no longer a problem to be solved. The very people working in the industry become unemployed if homelessness ends. Same with addiction services.

Cal4567

zerosugarbuzz wrote: »

It’s not really though. The workers in these charities have rents/mortgages/families etc to pay for. That turns homelessness into an industry, no longer a problem to be solved. The very people working in the industry become unemployed if homelessness ends. Same with addiction services.

That's a separate argument. As for this charity,

https://www.sundayworld.com/news/ex-bothar-boss-david-moloney-admits-stealing-suitcases-of-cash-from-charity-40428988.html

it doesn't seem to have been given much attention, nor do I see much outrage out there over it. Maybe all the existing outrage is spent up on housing/Israel?

With respect here as well, it is still only in the Limerick section of the site. Are we as a country just unured now to all this, and we just shrug our shoulders or are we just clueless *uckers, too easily accepting of the status quo and everything that goes with it.

As he had admitted guilt, it shouldn't take too long for a verdict to be delivered. If this was the US, even the UK, you'd be looking at a lengthy sentence. Here, you would think CAB are over this, that situations such as this falls under their remit?

Reading this Sunday World piece, you'd think some of the ill gotten gains are actually now paying for legal expenses. If this wasn't all real, we'd be in Flann O'Brien/Brendan Behan territory here.

The following sentences from the article just hang there, are almost comic.

Mr Justice Allen said he understood Mrs Moloney’s predicament.

“The difficulty is her husband stole €1m and can’t afford to contribute to the household bills as he heretofore has been doing,” the judge said.

The court heard Moloney filed an affidavit saying the family’s living expenses were €6,160-a-month.

chicorytip

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

Post #15 on this thread links to Bothar's last published accounts (2018). The accounts state that one Staff Member was paid between 90k and 100k.
It would be fairly safe to assume that this Staff member can only be the CEO.

Yes, that's right. I stand corrected. The figure (CEO's salary) was believed to be 96,000 per annum not 35.

Cherrycoke

Cal4567 wrote: »

The court heard Moloney filed an affidavit saying the family’s living expenses were €6,160-a-month.[/B]

What the actual?? :eek:

Bicyclette

Cal4567 wrote: »

That's a separate argument. As for this charity,

Mr Justice Allen said he understood Mrs Moloney’s predicament.

“The difficulty is her husband stole €1m and can’t afford to contribute to the household bills as he heretofore has been doing,” the judge said.

The court heard Moloney filed an affidavit saying the family’s living expenses were €6,160-a-month.

That is €73,920 net of tax and even with a reasonable amount of allowances would require more than the €96,000 salary to cover it. :mad:

mgbgt1978

Tipp people are in the clear in this case.
Dave Moloney was born and raised on the North Circular Road in Limerick.

mrjoneill

Bicyclette wrote: »

That is €73,920 net of tax and even with a reasonable amount of allowances would require more than the €96,000 salary to cover it. :mad:

And this money is out of poor boxes or collection buckets given for to support starving people in the developing world. They give a new meaning to brass necks.