Rush Credit Union: 15 cars bought for draw but investigators can't find who won

A REPORT INTO the governance of Rush Credit Union was unable to locate the winners of 15 car draws even though over €220,000 was spent on the cars.

The High Court today appointed a liquidator to the credit union with court documents recording that the institution owes about €2 million more than it holds in assets.

A partially redacted resolution report by the Central Bank’ Resolution Division into the credit union was published today as part of the liquidation process.

The report references reviews conducted by Grant Thornton (GT).

It described the credit union as “a failing institution with poor governance and systems and control issues that it has failed to resolve over many years.”

The report also found that there was ”substantial purported misappropriation and issues regarding the management of the car draw”.

The report was able to uncover payment transactions in relation to the car draw but not the details of winners because “no information is recorded or published on Rush’s website”.

In total, purchase details were found for 15 cars totalling €220,500.

In June of this year, gardaí said they were investigating reports of financial irregularities at the credit union, which covers Rush and Lusk.

Provisional liquidators were appointed to the institution earlier this month and since then the Central Bank said it has issued compensation payments to about 9,700 members of Rush.

The payments have been made automatically through the Deposit Guarantee Scheme.

“The total amount of compensation paid to date amounts to €22.3 million, representing 98% of deposits covered by the scheme. Members received their payments from 11 November 2016,” the Central Bank said in a statement.

Written by Rónán Duffy and posted on TheJournal.ie