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A Ukrainian citizen who stole more than € 95,000 in welfare under two false names has been jailed for two and a half years.
iktor Voloshin (51) obtained false Lithuanian documentation for two separate aliases that he used to claim the jobseeker’s allowance and the rent supplement for a period of eight years between 2008 and 2016.
The Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Voloshin had no right to work in Ireland as a Ukrainian citizen and told gardaí that he “did not want to beg.”
Voloshin, of Oak Glen View Road, Southern Cross Road, Bray, Co Wicklow, pleaded guilty to stealing job seeker allowance and rental supplements at various locations in Dublin and Wicklow on dates between November 27, 2008 and on August 30, 2016.
He also pleaded guilty to three counts of using counterfeit instruments at welfare offices in Dublin and Wicklow in 2013 and 2016 and to one count of possession of a counterfeit instrument at his address on December 7, 2016.
He has three prior convictions, including convictions for use of a false instrument and possession of a false instrument.
Garda Ian Abbey told Siobhán Ní Chúalacháin BL, prosecuting, that Voloshin traveled to Ireland in 2004 on a false passport.
Gda Abbey said that Voloshin applied for a PPSN under his own name in 2015. During this process, a photograph of the defendant was taken, which was then linked using facial recognition technology to another person named Tadeus Mezanec.
Gardaí obtained two search warrants, one of which was for an abandoned Walkinstown address, Crumlin, which was supposedly the Mezanec address. The second search warrant was the defendant’s address in Bray.
During a search for this address in Bray, Lithuanian identity cards in the name of Mezanec and in the name of Gintaras Baranauskas were discovered. Documentation in the name of Voloshin was also discovered.
Voloshin claimed the job search allowance under both aliases, on several occasions while also working under one of the aliases or under his own name. He also claimed a rental supplement on behalf of Mezanec.
The total amount of money he falsely claimed was 95,744 euros.
In an interview with Gardaí after his arrest, Voloshin said that when he first came to Ireland, as a Ukrainian citizen, he had no right to work. He admitted to having bought a fake Lithuanian passport.
Voloshin said in an interview that “it was not a lot of money” and that he “did not want to beg.”
Vincent Heneghan SC, in defense, said it was a “serious case” involving “fraud against the Irish people and Irish society”. He said his client’s immediate admission to Gardaí saved him “a great deal of time and effort.”
Judge Pauline Codd described the behavior as a “petty” crime that showed “very little respect for ordinary taxpayers who are funding the defendant in their criminal lifestyle.”
Judge Codd sentenced Voloshin to five years in prison, but suspended the last two and a half years of the sentence under strict conditions.
Online editors
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