A trustee of the clothing charity at the centre of a criminal money laundering probe also worked as the assistant to the CEO, according to her LinkedIn page.
As trustees of Liberty Recycling, Linda Behan, her husband Brian Behan – together with Sinn Féin TD, Aengus Ó Snodaigh –- are legally responsible for the governance of the charity.
But rather than acting independently as trustees the Charities Regulator found they 'remained fully supportive of their senior employees' when they should have been taking 'precautionary steps to suspend them'.
There is no suggestion that the trustees themselves are engaged in the suspected money laundering by an illegal criminal organisation thought to have infiltrated the charity.
Best practice charity guidelines encourage charities not to appoint board members who are also paid staff members.
Under the Charities (Amendment) Act 2024 the Minister has the power to introduce regulations governing the appointment of any employees as trustees.
However, this has not been done yet so for now charity employees can become trustees provided strict conflict of interest rules and tests are applied and there is no breach of a charity's constitution.
It is though prohibited – under Section 54A. (1) (b) of the Charities (Amendment) Act 2024 – for a majority of charity trustees to be 'connected relatives' – as was the case at Liberty since the beginning of October.
As it moved to close down Liberty Recycling this week, the Charities Regulator was scathing of the manner in which the trustees had discharged their duties.
According to the Regulator, the trustees displayed a 'lack of engagement with, and appreciation for, the seriousness of the situation in which' the charity they govern found itself in.
The charity's chairman Mr Ó Snodaigh has been in place since 2022 – the same year that Linda Behan became a trustee.
As trustees of Liberty Recycling, Linda Behan, her husband Brian Behan – together with Sinn Féin TD, Aengus Ó Snodaigh –- are legally responsible for the governance of the charity
As well as working as the CEO's assistant, Mrs Behan is the treasurer of Liberty Recycling.
In recent weeks a third trustee, Gabriel Kinahan – a Franciscan monk associated with the Merchants Quay homeless and addiction centre – was replaced by Brian Behan.
A well-known antiques dealer trading on Dublin's Francis Street, Mr Behan is the husband of Liberties native Linda Behan.
Speaking to the MoS this week, Mr Behan said he could not comment on the criticism levelled at trustees by the Regulator.
'I don't know anything about that. I can't really comment,' he said. 'This is not my thing so I can't really comment on it,' he added. 'It's an ongoing investigation... I don't know anything about this.'
Mr Behan said his wife was not one of the senior employees identified by the Regulator as using the luxury vehicles bought with charity funds.
'No, no…she wouldn't have access to any vehicles,' he said.
'We're very shaken up by all of this, as well as you can imagine because we were not involved in any of this, you know. We don't know anything about it.'
In its High Court petition to appoint liquidators to Liberty on Tuesday, the Regulator criticised the trustees, saying they had failed to display 'any urgency' to 'very serious questions' being asked by the Regulator's director of compliance.
The Regulator informed the court that it had tried twice, without success, to contact the trustees by phone on Tuesday October 20, as Garda raids were underway at the Bluebell HQ of the charity – and the Crumlin home of its CEO Philip Moloney Snr.
The MoS has confirmed with neighbours that luxury BMW vehicles seized that day were taken from the home of Mr Moloney Snr – the direct boss of trustee Linda Behan. The Crumlin home is also listed as the residence of the Moloney's youngest son Adam – a manager at the charity.
The day after the raids, on Wednesday, October 21, Mr Ó Snodaigh took the lead and began dealing with the Regulator by phone.
At that point, he told the Regulator's director of compliance that the trustees were aware of the raids the previous day and that the CEO was travelling home from abroad. He also said the trustees were not aware that two other firms linked to the charity – Liberty Global Exports Company and Liberty CE Scheme Project Company – were not actually registered charities themselves.
He added, 'the trustees did not know who the directors of these firms were' even though he and Linda Behan are listed as directors of these firms themselves.
The following day, on Thursday, October 22, the Regulator emailed each the trustees seeking information and accounts and requested that each of them 'separately acknowledge receipt of the correspondence.'
They all failed to do so.
According to the Regulator, the trustees displayed a 'lack of engagement with, and appreciation for, the seriousness of the situation in which' the charity they govern found itself in
On Friday, October 23, the Regulator was informed by gardai of 'further large scale irregularities' including the purchase of a Porsche in 2025 and a BMW jeep in 2026 in the name of another linked firm – Liberty Developments.
Liberty Developments is registered at the charity's Bluebell HQ but is not a charity. It is owned by the CEO – Philip Moloney Snr – and his son Adam.
None of Liberty's charitable trustees are directors of Liberty Developments.
Upon hearing of a third non-charitable entity operating from the charity's HQ the Regulator stepped up its enforcement activity.
'You are responsible for the control and management of the Charity and it appears that you are not in a position to answer any of the questions or provide any information requested,' the trustees were informed by letter.
'We are concerned that as charity trustees you are not fully informed or aware of certain fundamental information, such as the relationship with recently incorporated entities, of which you are also Directors which are not registered charities but which you may have been led to believe were associated charities to which assets of the Charity may have been transferred and to which payments may have been made.'
The Regulator told the trustees that any such transfers would be contrary to charity law and requested an immediate meeting.
A video call then ensued between the trustees, on the Friday of the October bank holiday weekend, in which they said they wanted to rectify the situation 're non-charitable entities'.
On Saturday, October 24, the trustees emailed draft management accounts to the Regulator and copied in 'two of the Charity's employees.'
These accounts contained 'unusual financial arrangements' relating to 'plant, machinery and vehicles with a value of €477,902'.
The fact that these two employees were included in the correspondence was deemed 'noteworthy' by the Regulator.
And in its High Court petition, the Regulator noted that the 'trustees remain fully supportive of their senior employees, with the result that they have taken no precautionary steps to suspend them pending investigation or otherwise, despite the very serious and concerning matters identified to date by the GNECB's investigation'.
Meanwhile, the trustees said they would 'endeavour to respond to each of the queries you have posed over the course of the weekend, and if not early on Tuesday when the factory opens again'.
This apparent lack of urgency then further increased the Regulator's concern, it now believing that the trustees 'do not seem to understand the gravity of the situation and they seem to be of the opinion that they can continue to operate as normal, notwithstanding that they have no access to a bank account and that the existence of a criminal investigation into its affairs has become public knowledge'.
The Regulator also complained that the trustees had no plan to deal with the charity's cash 'nor was there any urgency' in responding to the queries from the Regulator.
On bank holiday Monday, the trustees indicated a board meeting was scheduled for the next day – October 27 – after which more queries could be answered. But that never happened. Instead, the Regulator went to court to appoint liquidators on the basis that there was 'no effective management or oversight of the activities of the Charity by its trustees'.
'The Charity appears to have taken no steps (even on a precautionary basis) to protect the charity or its assets from misuse and/or misappropriation and/or dissipation. Their approach to dealing with continuing cash receipts is particularly concerning,' the petition reads.
So far the charity's CEO, Philip Moloney Snr and his son Adam have not made any public statement about the investigation.
Neighbours told the MoS this week the Moloneys had not been seen at home since the raids.
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