A Gulf War veteran on trial accused of laundering money in Aberdeen was tricked into handling the cash by a man posing as a fellow soldier, a court has heard.
Ex-Royal Engineer Steven Carle told Aberdeen Sheriff Court he set up a business bank account to help a “brother in arms” hide money from his estranged wife.
Carle is accused of concealing or removing almost £37,000 in cash over a three-day period after it was illicitly obtained through fraud.
The 43-year-old denies the charge and claims he didn’t know, nor did he have a reasonable belief, that the cash was a product of criminal activity.
Yesterday the ex-squaddie, who has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), broke down in tears during the second day of his trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Giving evidence, Carle said he was asked to set up a business bank account in his own name by a man called Michael whom he met in a city-centre pub in 2011.
The court heard the man – who went by the name Mike or Mick – convinced Carle that he was also ex-Army and that he was going through a bad divorce.
Carle said that after a number of meetings in the pub, the man asked him to open a bank account so he could hide the profits of his engineering company from his estranged wife.
Carle told the court: “It became apparent that he and his wife were not getting on. He asked me to do a favour.
“That’s when he asked me to open the bank account.
“He wanted to put the bills for his work into that account to hide the money.
“I thought he was a brother in arms. He said he would see me OK.”
However, the cash going into his trading account had actually been fraudulently obtained from four people who believed they were buying shares in a company.
The complainers, who made a number of de-posits totalling £36,672.34 into the business account, received nothing after their money was handed over.
Carle told the court he had struggled with civilian life after returning from Iraq, but had trusted “Mick” – even meeting up with him at the Castlegate to hand him a shoe box full of £50 notes several times.
Carle, of Room 22, Rosendale, 3 Victoria Road, Broughty Ferry, Dundee, claimed he had no idea there was anything suspicious about the cash until he received a citation from the procurator fiscal.
The jury is expected to consider its verdict tomorrow.