Kinahan cartel among network of gangs using 'underground bank' to launder millions

'They really are providing what is the lifeblood of organized crime. It works as a trust-based system, on networks that are operating right around the globe', the head of Europol's financial team, Lucy Myles said. File picture: Peter Dejong/AP

The Kinahan cartel is among a network of Europe’s top gangs using an underground bank to launder hundreds of millions of euro, according to a media investigation.

The European Broadcasting Network (EBU) found that a WhatsApp group chat, known as “Traders of Greater Europe”, was used to arrange the cash transfers across borders.

The group, with 532 members, used the ancient hawala transfer system, comprising a network of money brokers in reach of the countries.

Some 25 countries, including Ireland, were named in the messages examined by the investigation team.

The underground bank, hawala, does not require cash to physically move between countries, and is based on trust and experience between the brokers.

When a criminal lodges cash with a hawala broker in one country, another hawala in a separate country supplies the same sum of cash, minus a commission, to the intended recipient.

This bypasses the regulated financial industry, where transactions above a certain amount are flagged to authorities and records are kept of transactions and those involved.

Authorities told EBU that, in recent years, hawala has become the “underground bank of choice” for criminals looking to finance operations and launder billions of euro.

“They operate this parallel financial system", the head of Europol's financial team, Lucy Myles said.

“They really are providing what is the lifeblood of organized crime. It works as a trust-based system, on networks that are operating right around the globe.” 

Ms Myles, a former detective in An Garda Síochána and the Criminal Assets Bureau, joined Europol, the EU police agency, in 2017.

The EBU investigation cites the Kinahan cartel as being known for using hawala and quotes the US State Department as stating that the cartel uses the underground bank to “finance its operations, which include drugs and arms trafficking and murder”.

The investigation said the cartel’s “alleged main money launderer”, Johnny Morrisey, nicknamed “Johnny Cash”, was awaiting trial in Spain. 

He was arrested there in September 2022 as part of an international operation, involving Europol, Spanish police, gardaí and US drug enforcement agency.

The US authorities sanctioned Mr Morrisey, along with six other Kinahan figures, including father Christy and sons Daniel and Christopher Jnr, in April 2022.

Spanish authorities accuse him of using hawala to launder €200m in less than 18 months.

Ms Myles said: “I have read it in encrypted communication chats, where criminals have openly admitted that their money broker controls everything, they say that they are the heart of their organization. If you disrupt and dismantle these networks, you are crippling organized crime. You are hitting them really where it hurts. And this is our ultimate goal.”

Garda sources said the Kinahan cartel, and other Irish gangs, have been using Hawala "consistently for years" and that this increased following US sanctions and tighter money laundering oversight of financial institutions.

• Cormac O’Keeffe is Security Correspondent.