THIS is charity embezzler Peter Conlon arriving back in Ireland for Christmas after he was booted out of Switzerland.

Frail Conlon, 65, looked a world away from the confident figure he presented at the height of the Celtic Tiger with his online payments business, Ammado.

The father-of-four was convicted by a Swiss court last month of defrauding several international charities, including the Red Cross and Caritas, of €3.8million.

Ammado had been set up to make it easy for people to donate to different NGOs via the web, but Conlon was not passing the money on.

He was released from prison on Saturday as part of a deal worked out with Swiss authorities in order to avoid him serving a three-year jail sentence.

Conlon, who won the Industrial category of the Entrepreneur of the Year awards in 2004, agreed to pay back €67,000 to charities and give Swiss authorities €138,000 towards offsetting the cost of investigating him and bringing him to court.

He had spent almost a year on remand in a Zurich prison where he was locked up for 23 hours a day in an eight square metre cell with a toilet and a fold down bed and had to pay €1-a-day to watch TV.

His Swiss lawyer told a court there his client had lost almost three stone in weight while on remand.

Conlon has also been banned from Switzerland for five years and has had a two-year suspended sentence imposed on him.

The Irish Sun was present at Dublin Airport on Saturday when Leitrim native Conlon flew in immediately after being freed.

He was greeted by a number of members of his family, who hugged him and accompanied him towards the exit.

However, when our reporter approached him, Conlon did not reply to any questions and instead stared straight ahead before being whisked away by a female companion.

The Swiss court case is not the end of Conlon’s woes, as he is also facing an investigation by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement.

That began after a complaint from a liquidator appointed by Revenue to Ammado’s main Irish company, Pembroke Dynamic Internet Services, over a €400,000 debt.

Liquidator Myles Kirby, of Kirby Healy chartered accountants, accused Conlon in the High Court of reckless trading, fraudulent trading and misfeasance in running the company.

The court heard Kirby believed €40,000 was paid by Conlon to a woman he is thought to be “romantically involved with” as well as €5,000 to Conlon’s daughter in the UK and some €20,000 to a firm of solicitors.

The High Court granted a freezing order, preventing Conlon, or anyone linked to him, moving or selling his assets anywhere in the world.

At least 800 charities were contacted and told money donated to them through Conlon’s company website might be missing.

The Irish charities ranged from Trocaire and Concern to parish-level GAA clubs and local animal shelters.

The High Court was told there was only €357,000 in the company’s bank account.

The High Court was told in October that Conlon, with an address in Ballsbridge, south Dublin, intends to contest the freezing order against him. The matter is set to come before the courts again in February.

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TOPICSCHARITYDUBLIN