Accused admitted money was from bank, court told

A FATHER and son admitted under interrogation that they knew that millions of Northern Ireland sterling notes in their possession came from the 2004 Northern Bank robbery, the prosecution has claimed.

The claim was made yesterday at Cork Circuit Criminal Court where both men deny money laundering charges.

Timothy (Ted) Cunningham, 60, of Woodbine Lodge, Farran, Co Cork, pleaded not guilty to a total of 20 charges of money laundering arising out of the robbery of £26.5m sterling from the Northern Bank in Belfast on December 20, 2004.

His son, Timothy John Cunningham, 33, Church View, Farran, Co Cork, denied four similar charges.

Tom O’Connell, prosecuting, told the jury that Ted Cunningham gave Ballincollig car dealer Dan Joe Guerin some of the Northern Irish sterling in payment of a debt but later told him on February 3 or 4, 2004: “I am f***ed if you are caught with that.”

Mr Guerin then took £90,000 sterling given to him by Cunningham and put it in two fertiliser bags and brought it to his stables in Rathmore, Co Kerry.

Mr Guerin, who will be called as a prosecution witness, later took gardaí to the stables to recover the money.

Mr O’Connell said that gardaí went to search Ted Cunningham’s house on February 16, 2004.

Cunningham was not present but the gardaí phoned him and he arrived at 4am.

On the way down to the basement of the house in Farran, Cunningham said there were personal items there. Inspector Declan O’Sullivan asked him what kind and he replied: “A couple of million sterling.”

Cunningham said he couldn’t remember the number of the combination lock on a cupboard which he forced open. It contained six holdall bags of sterling.

According to Mr O’Connell’s opening outline of the prosecution allegations, Cunningham said it was not from the Northern Bank robbery. Asked why he would say that, he replied because it was on the television all the time.

He was arrested on suspicion of being a member of an unlawful organisation. Mr O’Connell said that because of the logistics and planning that went into the Northern Bank robbery — where a member of staff was kidnapped and threatened — it was believed that it had to have been organised by a paramilitary organisation.

During Garda interrogation, Ted Cunningham claimed that two Bulgarians were buying a gravel pit from him in Co Offaly and that the deal was a €2m sale price and €3m under the table, Mr O’Connell said.

“But he changed his story that the money had come from unnamed Bulgarians for the purchase of a pit in Co Offaly. He conceded that he knew the money came from the Northern Bank robbery in December 2004. His son made similar admissions.

“In the course of these interrogations, it turned out Ted Cunningham got the cash in four tranches,” Mr O’Connell added.

He said Ted Cunningham picked up £1.2m at the Clonmore Hotel in Co Offaly on January 18, 2005, from a man in a Northern car. Three days later, he picked up £1.3m at the Ardboyne hotel in Navan, Co Meath, then £1m at the Tullybeg nursing home in Co Offaly on January 27 and £1.5m at the same place on February 9.

Ted Cunningham operated an unregulated money lending company called Chesterton Finance whereby he took large cash deposits at 10% and lent them out at 24% or 25% to people who could not get loans elsewhere, Mr O’Donnell said, adding, “He was in an ideal position to launder amounts of money.”

Concluding his opening address to the jury, the prosecution senior counsel said: “We propose to rely on his admissions and the manner in which the money was received — huge amounts from the same man driving different cars on different occasions; the nature of the currency — all Northern Bank sterling notes; on the time he received it — after the Northern Bank raid which had received saturation coverage.

“How he dealt with the money gives you a clue as to his state of mind, how he disposed of the money — he didn’t walk into a bank and walk up to the counter and convert it. He did it through Mr (Dan Joe) Guerin, through the Douglas’s (Offaly jewellers) and through Mr (John) Sheahan (Cork city developer).

“How do we prove it came from the Northern Bank robbery? We say there is no other possible source. We also rely on the identification of notes,” Mr O’Connell said.

The prosecution said that as soon as it was reported that Ted Cunningham was charged in relation to the matter, John Sheahan contacted the gardaí and told them Cunningham had given him £175,000 in sterling as security for a €200,000 loan.

The first charge on the indictment against Ted Cunningham is of transferring over £100,000 to John Douglas in Tullamore, Co Offaly. The jury was told they would hear evidence that Mr Douglas twice received bags of sterling cash to store for Ted Cunningham and that he (Mr Douglas) put the plastic bags of money under his parents’ bed.

The prosecution claimed Ted Cunningham received over £4.9m sterling in total, that he panicked in relation to £1.5m of it which was new consecutively numbered Northern Bank sterling and got rid of that. He said the money was moved to Passage West by someone driving a jeep as Cunningham jnr drove ahead to keep an eye out for any Garda activity on the roads.