Mohamed Saleh Zayed: €345,000 claimed through a second PPS number

For twelve years, Mohamed Saleh Zayed worked as a taxi driver while using a second PPS number to claim disability, rent and dietary payments. More than €345,000 was paid. Even after substantial repayments, the loss to the State recorded at sentencing was €159,118.

A second identity inside the welfare system

Zayed pleaded guilty in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to six counts of fraud and six counts of deception committed between March 2003 and November 2015. The sentencing reports say he used a second Personal Public Service number to obtain disability, rent and dietary-allowance payments.

At the same time, he was working as a taxi driver and was therefore not entitled to the payments, the court heard. The published record does not identify how the second PPS number was first obtained, whose identity it represented or the precise amount paid under each scheme. Those details are not assumed here.

More than €345,000 paid; €159,118 still lost

The court reports put the fraudulent claims at more than €345,000. Zayed had repaid what Judge Melanie Greally described as a sizeable amount and had an ongoing repayment arrangement. The remaining loss to the State was recorded as €159,118 at the sentence hearing.

Those figures describe different points in the accounting. The gross sum claimed is not added to the outstanding loss, and neither figure is treated as a prison cost. The located reports do not provide a later repayment balance, so this file does not present the 2022 balance as the amount outstanding today.

Detection and admission

Gardaí became aware that Zayed was accumulating large sums in several bank accounts. Garda Ian Abbey of the Department of Social Protection’s Special Investigation Unit told an earlier hearing that facial-recognition technology contributed to detecting the offences.

After his arrest, Zayed cooperated with the investigation, admitted making the fraudulent claims, expressed remorse and said he wished to repay the money. Those mitigating facts were before the court; they did not undo the guilty pleas or the lengthy period of offending.

The sentence

On 9 May 2022, Judge Greally imposed two and a half years’ imprisonment. She described “very significant dishonesty” across several payment headings, involving substantial sums over a very long period. She also found there was no particular financial pressure or necessity behind the claims.

The judge took account of Zayed’s cooperation, repayments and health problems, including a history of oral cancer and diabetes. She described him, apart from this class of offending, as a respectable and hard-working family man. She ordered him to be of good behaviour for twelve months after release and recommended a low-security prison.

Chronology

• 1980s: Zayed is reported to have come to Ireland. The located record does not give a more precise arrival date or immigration basis.
• March 2003: the admitted fraud and deception period begins.
• November 2015: the admitted offending period ends.
• Before May 2022: accumulation of money in bank accounts and facial-recognition work contribute to detection; Zayed admits the claims and pleads guilty.
• 9 May 2022: Dublin Circuit Criminal Court imposes two and a half years’ imprisonment.
• 2 August 2026 record check: no published appeal decision or final repayment balance was located.

Public-cost boundary

Using the Irish Prison Service’s 2024 average of €99,072 per available staffed prison space, the face value of a two-and-a-half-year term gives a nominal capacity benchmark of €247,680.

This is not an invoice or an audited marginal cost for Zayed. It uses the sentence imposed, not verified time served, and does not adjust for remand, remission, release date or historical annual rates. Investigation, prosecution, legal aid and court costs are not published for this case. The €345,000 gross claims, the €159,118 loss recorded at sentencing and the prison benchmark are separate figures and are not added together.

Nationality and status boundary

The sentencing reports describe Zayed as a Libyan national who had been in Ireland since the 1980s. They do not establish his immigration permission, citizenship status or the original basis on which he entered or remained in the State. They also report no deportation, removal or citizenship proceeding arising from the conviction. None is inferred.

Sources

• The Irish Times, 9 May 2022 — court report for the guilty pleas, payment categories, repayment position, detection, mitigation and sentence.
• Irish Independent, 9 May 2022 — contemporaneous sentencing account.
• BreakingNews.ie, 9 May 2022 — court report for the offence period, second PPS number, State loss and sentence.
• Extra.ie, 10 May 2022 — secondary report confirming the principal court facts.
• Department of Social Protection compliance and anti-fraud strategy — official context for facial recognition, the Special Investigation Unit and investigation of identity fraud and multiple claiming.
• Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001, section 6 — official text of the offence of making gain or causing loss by deception.
• Irish Prison Service Annual Report 2024 — staffed prison-space benchmark.

Record checked: 2 August 2026. The news reports substantially derive from the same court-reporting stream and are not presented as four independent investigations.