Facts behind the stuff of pulp fiction yet to emerge

‘The sexy bits are over; now it’s the hard work.’ Cormac O’Keeffe recalls the unfolding of an all-too-real drama.

IT has all the ingredients of a pulp crime novel.

A Daz washing powder box stuffed with cash; suspected IRA and Sinn Féin members picked up by garda spy bosses; raids on offices and homes of

businessmen; a web of companies and offshore bank accounts; Bulgarian arms dealers; an aide to the Taoiseach all suspected of being connected with an IRA operation to clean £25.6 million, stolen from the Northern Bank last December.

So far, nothing has been proven. Only one man has been charged, but gardaí are confident further prosecutions will come.

When news filtered through last Thursday week of arrests and sterling cash seizures, few would have guessed what was about to unravel.

Shortly after 3pm on Wednesday, February 16, gardaí pounced on three men, one from Cork and two from Derry.

The little-known, but powerful, garda intelligence agency, Crime and Security, had the three under surveillance. The garda operation included the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) and the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation (GBFI).

In the men's car gardaí found a Daz box, stuffed with £64,000 in notes.

Don Bullman, aged 30, a chef and fundraiser for Sinn Féin, was arrested and subsequently charged with membership of the IRA.

Three hours later, Tom Hanlon, a former colleague of Bullman's, was arrested at his home in Passage West, Cork.

Hanlon, aged 37, a former town councillor and unsuccessful Sinn Féin general election candidate, has been publicly seen alongside Sinn Féin leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. No money was found at his home.

He was released without charge and a file is being prepared for the DPP.

Soon after, Sinn Féin activist George Hegarty, a part-time bouncer from Douglas, Co Cork, was arrested.

Gardaí found some £60,000 at his home.

The plot thickened on Thursday when the home and offices of businessman Ted Cunningham were searched in Ballincollig and Farren, Co Cork.

At his home, gardaí found £2.3m, in a compost bin in his garden.

Cunningham, a money-lender, and his partner Cathy Armstrong were arrested and later released without charge pending a file to the DPP.

Gardaí removed documentation and computers belonging to Mr Cunningham and his numerous companies, including Chesterton Finance.

Later that day, detectives visited or raided businesses and homes in Westmeath, Offaly, Dundalk, Portlaoise and Dublin.

In a bizarre development on Thursday night, a businessman walked into Anglesea Garda Station in Cork city and handed over £170,000.

Later that night, it emerged that government troubleshooter Phil Flynn was a director of Chesterton Finance.

He told the Irish Examiner that CAB had visited him on Wednesday and that he voluntarily handed up documentation relating to Chesterton Finance.

Mr Flynn said he had gone on business trips with Mr Cunningham and others to Bulgaria weeks before.

Reports also surfaced that members of the IRA had met with Bulgarian arms dealers with a view to setting up a financial institution in Bulgaria to launder their money.

Last Friday, further bizarre reports emerged that a man had been seen in Passage West burning cash.

The man was arrested on suspicion of firearms charges, but released without charge, pending a file to the DPP.

Claims that the man had burned £750,000 were discounted by garda sources, who said it was impossible to determine how much was burned.

Last weekend, CAB officers seized £265,000 in Offaly, £67,000 in Dublin and more than £130,000 in Cork.

"All the sexy bits are over. There may be further searches and arrests, but now it's the hard work," said one garda source.

Experts from CAB and GBFI will sift through documentation, company records, bank accounts and computer files to trace movements of money and the personnel involved in each of the companies.

Files are expected to go to the DPP on some of the more specific cases within weeks.

Files on the key people at the heart of the investigation are likely to take months.

The full criminal, and political, implications have yet to unravel.