Pastor stole social welfare payments, Dundalk court heard
Dundalk Circuit Court has heard how a pastor who obtained €29,000 in social welfare payments which he was not entitled to, was caught when one of his brothers attempted to sign-on in his name when he was out of the country.
Christian Bona with an address at Rockfield Park, Stoney Lane, Ardee had pleaded guilty to a number of sample counts but was originally charged with 56 counts - all for theft of the job seekers allowance, apart from a back to school allowance claim.
The court was told last Tuesday that an official in the civic offices in Ardee knew the person who attempted to sign-on as Christian Bona (Bone-a), was not the genuine claimant, and he was asked to return with identification.
The next day Mr. Bona arrived with I-D and maintained he had been out of the country for a family emergency.
The court heard CCTV showed his two brothers collecting payments in his name.
When interviewed he told officers his father in law had had a stroke and he had to go back to Romania.
The father of five, who is a naturalised Irish citizen, apologised saying "I didn't think it was a big problem".
The defendant took 30 flights within Europe between March 2015 and July 2016 and when questioned about this, said he could not remember the details.
Although at one point he had been eligible for the social welfare payments, he was ineligible for the period in question as he was absent from the State.
The investigating Garda also told the court that a judicial review over his accessing the flight data and using them as a Social Welfare Inspector, had failed, and Mr Bona now has a different legal team.
The court heard he had no previous convictions and had brought €5,000 to court.
Judge Dara Hayes at the request of the Defence, put back the case to June 7th, to give Mr. Bona a chance to deal with the outstanding sum.
Separately, before Dundalk District Court last Wednesday, Mr. Bona's brothers, 44 year old Ciprian Bonescu of Kilcarn Court, Navan and 49 year old Daniel Bonescu of Cherry Grove, Drumgola Wood, Cavan were each given two month suspended sentences for theft, arising out of the same investigation.