A FINANCIAL adviser charged with laundering more than £3 million taken in the Northern Bank raid was fearful of the then chairman of the Bank of Scotland (Ireland), Phil Flynn, as he had named him as the main man behind the laundering operation, a garda claimed yesterday.
Det Chief Supt Tony Quilter, who headed up the investigation into the money-laundering operation in Cork where gardaí recovered more than £2.3 million, said Ted Cunningham told him after he was released from Garda custody that he was afraid of Mr Flynn.
“He was in fear of Mr Flynn after naming Mr Flynn,” said Det Chief Supt Quilter, who had earlier told the trial Mr Cunningham had told gardaí during an off-camera interview following his arrest on February 17th, 2005, that “Phil Flynn is the boss behind everything”.
“He told me Mr Flynn had instructed him to get copies of the statements he had made during interview and that he was to request them through his solicitor, Frank Buttimer. He said ‘What am I to do now? It will all be out in the open and my life will be in danger’,” he said.
Mr Cunningham, from Farran, Co Cork, denies 20 charges of money-laundering, including one of possessing £3,010,380 at Farran between December 20th, 2004, and February 16th, 2005, knowing or believing it to be the proceeds of a robbery at the Northern Bank in Belfast.
Yesterday, on the 19th day of the trial at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, Det Chief Supt Quilter was cross-examined by defence counsel Ciaran O’Loughlin SC, who said his client alleged he was coerced into co-operating with gardaí after he was arrested on suspicion of IRA membership.
Mr O’Loughlin put it to Det Chief Supt Quilter that gardaí had told Mr Cunningham he had better co-operate with them or they would leak a story to the press that he had named people in the IRA and he would end up with a bullet in the head.
“I emphatically deny that. This was too serious a matter to deal with someone’s life in such a flippant manner,” said Det Chief Supt Quilter, adding that there were never any threats made against Mr Cunningham while he was in custody being questioned.
Det Chief Supt Quilter pointed out that it was almost four years since Mr Cunningham had been arrested and in that time he had made no complaint of his treatment by gardaí to either his solicitor, the Garda Complaints Board or the Garda Ombudsman.
Det Chief Supt Quilter confirmed to Mr O’Loughlin that he had given Mr Cunningham his mobile phone number when he was being released but at that stage it was in relation to concerns Mr Cunningham had for his own safety and that of his family. “I told him I would be contacting him given his expressions of concern about his family,” he said, adding he told him they would meet up “when the dust settles”. He said he met him about 15 times and rang him some 40 times until September 21st, 2005.
Det Chief Supt Quilter denied that he asked Mr Cunningham to arrange a meeting with Mr Flynn and to report back to him what happened but he confirmed he had asked him to brief him on any contact he had with those behind the money-laundering operation.
“I did not ask him to arrange a meeting with Phil Flynn and to come back to me after. He said that he would be ringing the boys after this and I asked him to come back to me, ” he said.
Mr O’Loughlin put it to Det Chief Supt Quilter that he was “trying to get Ted Cunningham to act as an informer. What you wanted was that he would go prowling around and find out what was happening.”
“I was trying to get any intelligence or information I could to further my investigation into activities of IRA and money-laundering of Northern Bank robbery money. I wanted to find out, that was my job. I make no apologies for that,” Det Chief Supt Quilter replied.
Det Chief Supt Quilter denied that he had told Mr Cunningham that if he co-operated with gardaí and named people involved in the money-laundering operation, he would only face revenue charges and issues with the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) which could be sorted out.
Det Chief Supt Quilter said he never said that but that he did tell Mr Cunningham that the file in relation to the matter would not be ready for some time and that the only issues that he would be facing in the immediate future would be matters relating to Revenue and Cab.
