Man gave €200k loan to Cunningham

A PROPERTY developer who loaned Ted Cunningham €200,000 on the security of a bag of sterling totalling £175,000 testified yesterday that the accused man told him he was doing business in Bulgaria with Phil Flynn and the Bailey brothers.

Phil Flynn was chairman of Bank of Scotland (Ireland) and the Bailey brothers are Tom and Michael Bailey, directors of Bovale, a leading development company.

The witness in Ted Cunningham’s trial, John Sheehan, has an office in Ballincollig, Co Cork, in the same building that Cunningham also has an office.

He said he loaned Cunningham e200,000 at 10% per annum in February 2005 to be repaid in eight weeks and that the defendant gave him £175,000 in a Blarney Woollen Mills plastic bag as security which Mr Sheehan put into his safe.

On February 17, 2005, gardaí searched Cunningham’s office with a search warrant.

Mr Sheehan said he played golf for the day and later heard news on the radio about the matter.

He contacted gardaí to tell them about the transaction.

They seized the sterling. Mr Sheehan said he has not been repaid the e200,000 yet and that he had not received the English sterling from the gardaí despite writing to them twice about it.

He said he had numerous conversations with Cunningham who always told him that the sterling had come from Bulgaria.