Jeffrey Bevan is pictured arriving at Cardiff Crown Court during an earlier hearing
A Welsh accountant has admitted to laundering £1.3million stolen from the Bermudan government to buy luxury homes and cars and fund his gambling habit.
Jeffrey Bevan admitted transferring the money into his own bank account while working for the government, where he was a ‘trusted’ staff member.
A court heard Bevan, originally from South Wales, began illegally taking taxpayers’ money after moving to sunshine island in 2011 for an £80,000-a-year job.
Bevan was caught after he resigned as a payment manager in February 2013 amid accusations of ‘odd transactions’.
Stephen Hadfield, managing director of bookmakers Paddy Power, produced a report which showed Mr Bevan made 18,853 bets between the November 2008 and May 2014.
Mr Evans said: ‘He made 2094 deposits in totalling £2,031,474, and over the same period took out on only 494 occasions £1,539,400, half a million pound difference. The balance as at the 9th May 2014 was zero.’
Cardiff Crown Court heard most of the Bermudan money was transferred to Britain to a Barclays account in the name of JCB Accountancy Services.
The court heard he invested some of the laundered money is nine different properties for rent around Britain.
Bevan is accused of making more than 50 bogus payments to himself before illegally transferring the money back to Britain.
Joel Ishmael (left), 42, and Paul Charity (right), 52, remain on trial, accused of laundering the money. Charity has also denied a charge of perverting the course of justice
But he then quit his job after less than three years to move back to Wales – after having bought luxury Mercedes cars and a series of property investments.
Bevan quit in May 2013 to return to Britain blaming his mother’s poor health and the children’s schooling as the reasons for his resignation.
Cardiff Crown Court heard the investigation showed 52 bogus payments made to Bevan’s account in Bermuda before being transferred to Britain.
Father-of-two Bevan claimed the payments to him were for overtime – saying he did up to 50 hours extra on top of his 35-hour week.
Mr Evans said: ‘His defence will be that every cent of the $2.4 million was effectively overtime, over and above his basic and overtime hours, presumably tax free, and paid voluntarily and legitimately by the Bermudan Government.’
The court heard he claimed he was on $400 per hour working 50 hours a week on top of his basic week.
Joel Ishmael, 42, and Paul Charity, 52, remain on trial, accused of laundering the money. Charity has also denied a charge of perverting the course of justice.
A court heard Bevan, originally from South Wales, began illegally taking taxpayers’ money after moving to sunshine island (pictured) in 2011 for an £80,000-a-year job
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