Libel case told of financier's money

A BUSINESSWOMAN suing the Sunday World for libel over articles related to the laundering of the proceeds of the IRA’s £26.5 million Northern Bank robbery in 2004 has told the High Court that Cork financier Ted Cunningham, later jailed for money-laundering offences, seemed to have “a lot of money” and was “throwing it around a lot”.

Asked about Garda notes of interviews with her in February 2005 which referred to her saying she knew Mr Cunningham “had a lot of funny money” but she didn’t know where it came from, Kathryn Nelson said she should not have used the word “funny” and didn’t mean it “in that way”.

When she met him and Phil Flynn, former trade union leader and later ICC Bank chairman, in 2004 and 2005 in connection with proposed business projects in Bulgaria, where she was then based, she had been out of Ireland since 1990 and was not up to date with what was going on here, she added.

Ms Nelson – who worked for years as a diplomatic liaison officer for people seeking to do business abroad – said she did have suspicions about the truth of Mr Cunningham’s assertions to her about having done business in Spain and Malta. She believed he was “looking for a way in” and to use her business contacts.

Ms Nelson (61), of Kyleeva, Hugginstown, Co Kilkenny, was being cross-examined by Oisín Quinn for the Sunday World, in the continuing hearing of her action alleging libel in articles of February 27th 2005. These included a front page article headlined: “Busted” with the sub-heading: “Flynn’s female pal quizzed by cops in Provo money laundering probe”, accompanied by a large photo of her.