THE CORK man who is accused of money-laundering told gardaí that he contemplated burning almost £5 million sterling that he had in the basement of his house because he felt under so much pressure simply by having the money, a court heard yesterday.
The court was told that Mr Cunningham (60), a financial adviser from Farran, Co Cork, was asked by gardaí what he had planned to do with £4.9 million sterling stolen in the Northern Bank raid that he had received and stored in a cupboard in the basement of his house in Farran, Co Cork.
“I contemplated burning it – I did, seriously,” said Mr Cunningham in an interview with Det Sgt Vincent Byrne and Det Garda Tony Ryan of the Criminal Assets Bureau following his arrest on suspicion of IRA membership.
“I mean, I was in a situation I was never in before in my life. Not making excuses, I am a 58-year-old man, I had all that money,” Mr Cunningham said during questioning at the Bridewell Garda station in Cork on February 19th, 2005.
The detectives had been questioning Mr Cunningham about his plan to use the planned purchase of a sand and gravel pit in Shinrone, Co Offaly, by a group of Bulgarians as a means of explaining his receipt of such a large quantity of sterling.
Mr Cunningham owned the sand and gravel pit with three others – David O’Sullivan, an engineering contractor from Passage West, Co Cork, Gerard Murphy, an accountant from Midleton and, Irene Johnstone, his business partner in Chesterton Finance.
“I had not thought how I was going to get the money to my partners – having received the money and having realised how deep I was in trouble, having no one to talk to, I was floating from day to day, not knowing what was going through my mind from hour to hour.
“I know I contemplated telling them and letting them do with it [the money] whatever they wanted, ” said Mr Cunningham, adding that he was not under pressure from anyone but simply from having the money.
Mr Cunningham told the two gardaí that he knew the money seized at his house was from the Northern Bank raid and while he had not been asked at that stage to accept any more money, he did not know what would happen if he had been asked to take more cash.
Mr Cunningham 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 robbery at the Northern Bank in Belfast.
Yesterday was the 20th day of the trial at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. The seven men and five women of the jury also heard evidence of how Mr Cunningham had planned to set up a bank in Bulgaria with the then chairman of Bank of Scotland (Ireland), Phil Flynn.
The jury had already heard how Mr Flynn had a 10 per cent stake in Chesterton Finance which Mr Cunningham and Ms Johnstone owned.
Mr Cunningham told how he hoped that recruiting Mr Flynn, to whom he was introduced in 2003, would raise the profile of the company.
He said that an associate of Mr Flynn, a freelance consultant called Catherine Nelson who was originally from Naas, Co Kildare, was instrumental in setting up contacts and meetings for them in Bulgaria, including one with the deputy finance minister.
Ms Nelson was based in Malta but had lived for some months in Sofia where she had worked out of an office belonging to some Bulgarians called Emil, Slavco and Giorgio, whom she put in touch with Mr Cunningham with a view to buying the sand and gravel pit in Shinrone.