Car dealer testifies in money laundering case

A Cork car dealer who was given £200,000 in 2005 by the man accused of money-laundering testified today that Ted Cunningham told him at one stage: “Get rid of it”, so he hid what was left of it in a fertiliser bag in a stable.

Ted Cunningham (aged 60) of Woodbine Lodge, Farran, Co Cork, has denied all 20 counts of money laundering.

The charges arise out of the investigation of the robbery of £26.5m sterling from the Northern Bank in Belfast on December 20, 2004.

The jury heard evidence today from Dan Joe Guerin a car dealer with garages in Ballincollig and Millstreet, Co Cork.

Mr Guerin said he lent €120,000 to David O’Sullivan, who was introduced to him by Ted Cunningham in December 2002. Mr Guerin said that the loan was not repaid two years later and that Cunningham gave him £200,000 in sterling cash, which Mr Guerin regarded as a repayment of the loan.

“I had it in the office in Millstreet. I asked Ted about changing it into euro. He said Tom Hanlon (Sinn Féin councillor in Passage West) would change it for me. I gave Tom Hanlon £75,000,” Guerin said.

He said he opened his garage in Ballincollig and that Tom Hanlon drove in to the garage and he (Mr Guerin) gave him the cash.

Asked if Mr Hanlon did change it for euro, Mr Guerin replied: “No, I didn’t see it no more.”

He was asked if he had conversations with Ted Cunningham about the remainder of the £200,000.

Mr Guerin said: “I asked was it OK, he just laughed and said it is like. The only other thing I was bothered about was whether this was money from the Northern Bank. He (Ted Cunningham) said: ‘No’. I said I was having difficulty getting it changed. He said: ‘Get rid of it’. This was early February (2005).”

Prosecution barrister, Tom O’Connell asked: “Why did he tell you to get rid of it?”

Mr Guerin replied: “I don’t really know that. I was a bit bothered at that time myself. I took it down to a stable in Knocknagullane (two miles from Millstreet). I put it just up behind the wall in a plastic fertilizer bag.”

He said he later brought gardaí down there and showed them the money which amounted to £95,000.

Judge Cornelius Murphy adjourned the case until Friday.