A BRITISH Customs and Excise officer who interviewed Mr John Gilligan at Heathrow Airport when he was arrested in October has told a committal hearing in London that he saw a document in his briefcase concerning a loan agreement for £4 million.
However, on closer inspection of the document and a second one relating to the loan, he found it had been signed by Mr Gilligan alone and did not bear the signature of the lender.
As the committal hearing entered its second day yesterday further evidence was brought before the court concerning the arrest of Mr Gilligan, who is facing charges relating to the concealment of money in order to avoid a drug trafficking offence and that directly or indirectly he was involved with another person's proceeds from drug trafficking.
After he had questioned Mr Gilligan about the purpose of his visit to Amsterdam, to which he had replied "horseracing and looking at property there", the customs officer told the court he then asked him if he had money to buy the property. At this point he said Mr Gilligan indicated a silver hard backed suitcase and told him: "Yes I do, in there. £300,000. It's all legal and above board."
Replying to a question from Mr Nigel Peters QC, for the prosecution the customs officer said he then explained to Mr Gilligan that taking such a large amount of money out of the country was automatically considered suspicious and therefore the money would be "liable for detention". It was then explained to him that he was not under arrest, but his "assistance" was required by customs and excise and the money would be retained.
Later that day, when Mr Gilligan was interviewed by other customs and excise officers the suitcase was searched and £330,000 in "used bank notes" of Irish pounds, Northern Irish pounds and a small amount in sterling were found concealed under bubble wrap at the bottom.
Following further questioning, the customs officer said Mr Gilligan's briefcase was also searched and it contained an anti bugging device and other documents relating to a £4 million loan agreement with a man named as Mr Joseph Saouma.
During the interview, the court was told Mr Gilligan maintained the money in his suitcase had been loaned to him by Mr Saouma and brought to him by a courier but he did not know from which bank it had been collected.
Under cross examination by Mr Gilligan's counsel, Ms Clare Montgomery, the customs officer was pressed on Mr Gilligan's conduct during his interview at Heathrow. It became apparent, he said, that Mr Gilligan was not attempting to conceal that he had a large sum of money and that, initially, he was prepared to disclose the purpose of the money.
The court was then read a statement by another customs and excise officer which said that later the same day, when Mr Gilligan had been left alone in the interview room, he returned to find him making a telephone call to his wife in which he said, "They've got the 309 grand ... tell Terry, ring Terry.
The hearing could continue until next week, when a witness from Ireland may be called to give evidence concerning the transportation of goods from Cork to Dublin on Mr Gilligan's behalf.