Cunningham claims Bulgarian businessmen wanted to invest

THE Corkman accused of money-laundering claimed from the witness box yesterday a group of Bulgarian business people were keen to invest money with him, because they could not trust their country’s banks.

Ted Cunningham, aged 60, of Woodbine Lodge, Farran, Co Cork, gave evidence from the witness box for the first time in his 34-day trial at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. He denies 20 charges of money-laundering, in a case arising out of the probe into the robbery of £26.5m from the Northern Bank in Belfast on December 20, 2004.

Cunningham said: “One man (in a group of Bulgarian businessmen) said a lot of his business was cash-orientated and he said banks were not trusted in Bulgaria because they were run by the Russian mafia. They were looking for investments outside Bulgaria.

“At one stage I was asked could I handle cash — US dollars, Canadian dollars, sterling. I was asked could we handle cash payments. I said, yes, we could.”

Cunningham told the jury that Bulgarians were interested in a sand and gravel pit in Tullamore, Co Offaly, and they arranged to buy it from Cunningham for four million. It was not stated if this was sterling or euro.

The accused said he received sterling payments totalling £3m from the Bulgarians in respect of the pit and these payments were made in sums including £800,000, £200,000 and a number of £500,000 payments. He described receiving one payment in Tullamore and another in Navan.

He said, before the payments, three Bulgarians — Georgi Andossorov, his father, Slavtoho, and Emil Petrov — visited Ireland looking at properties.

“We did a deal on the pit. I did the deal with Georgi. A price was agreed to go on the contract of two million and two million to be paid by way of commission. Funds would have to be declared to Revenue,” Cunningham testified.

By the end of January 2005, he said he had “£3m in cash in UK sterling, there was Northern sterling and Bank of Scotland sterling”.

For the purchase of the pit the Bulgarians were setting up a company in Ireland, but could not do so at the time in late 2004 as Bulgaria was not in the EU. Cunningham said he and Phil Flynn [former chairman of Bank of Scotland (Ireland)] assisted. Asked whose idea it was to set up that company he said, “Both Phil and myself. Phil’s details and my details were to be on (the company documents) and the three lads’ (Bulgarians) names were to be transferred and we were to come off.”

Asked why he gave £250,000 to the Douglas family jewellers to mind in Tullamore, Cunningham said: “I had no safe.”

He said that in February 2005 he gave John Sheehan, a property developer in Ballincollig, Co Cork, £200,000 in sterling from the Bulgarian money as security for a loan Mr Sheehan gave to Chesterton in the sum of e150,000. Chesterton Finance is a company of which Cunningham was a director.

Cunningham said Chesterton gave 10% annual interest to investors and gave short-term mortgages at 2% per month to people who could not get mortgages from the High Street banks. He said Chesterton had a tax clearance certificate from as recently as January 29 last. He said David O’Sullivan from Passage West approached him for a e120,000 loan and Cunningham put him in touch with Ballincollig car dealer Dan Joe Guerin who lent it to Mr O’Sullivan. He said Mr Guerin wanted his money repaid and Cunningham told him: “I can give you collateral on behalf of Dave in sterling.”

Ted Cunningham will continue to give evidence under examination from his own counsel today.