Details of the biggest money-laundering operation uncovered to date in the State were revealed yesterday when a court was told of a bureau de change which laundered sums of between £50,000 and £100,000 at a time into sterling.
Operating from a semi-detached building shared with a Garda station at Dromad, Dundalk, a short distance from the Border, the bureau had a turnover of more than £17 million a year. It also operated as a private bank, handling up to £60 million for 150 customers.
Kieran Byrne (34), from Annaskeagh, Mountpleasant, Dundalk, pleaded guilty at Trim Circuit Court to five charges. They were failing to take measures to establish the identity of a customer of foreign exchange, carrying on a bureau de change at Dromad Enterprises, Dundalk, without authorisation and handling cash representing the proceeds of criminal activity.
All the offences took place at Dromad between September 1998, and January 2000 and related to Dromad Enterprises which operated the roadside bureau de change.
The premises was searched by gardaí on October 19th, 1999, and documents, cash totalling £700,000 and cheques and bank drafts for £900,000 were seized, and Byrne was arrested.
Det Insp Gerard Gibben of the National Bureau of Fraud Investigation gave details of the two money-laundering charges. He said a courier from a Dublin criminal gang would arrive at the bureau with a plastic bag containing a substantial amount of money and ask for Byrne by name. He would be sent away and when he returned an hour later Byrne would hand him the sterling equivalent of the money.
Between £50,000 and £100,000 would be laundered into sterling at a time.
The inspector said Byrne did not keep records of the identity of some customers or their full names in some transactions.
Despite its size the bureau had a substantial turnover: figures for 1998-99 showed a turnover of £17,844,000 and for 1999-2000 a turnover of £17,646,000 was recorded.
It also operated as a private bank, with that side of the operation accounting for substantially more money - up to £60 million, the inspector said, adding that it had up to 150 customers.
He agreed with Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, defending, that the majority of the criminals involved were smugglers and that smuggling was endemic near the Border.
There was no evidence Byrne was involved in the criminal gangs but he acted as an essential service to them, he said.
Byrne had been in correspondence with the Central Bank about a licence to operate a bureau de change at the time of his arrest and had never been asked to cease trading, Mr MacEntee said.
A forensic accountant working with the Garda, Mr David McManus, analysed documents seized at the premises including banking and business records.
He said the business was mainly exchanging sterling and punt currencies and there were bank accounts both sides of the Border. The turnover from the Republic was mirrored in Northern Ireland, he said.
He said figures from the AIB in Dundalk showed that in the 3½ years from 1996 the turnover exceeded that declared to the Central Bank by £27.1 million.
Mr McManus said Byrne had accepted up to £350,000 sterling per transaction, and some individual accounts were in false names.
Among the documents seized were 12 customer cheques totalling £122,326 sterling, with no payee details. This was consistent with money-laundering schemes.
Mr MacEntee said there were many legitimate customers who used the banking facilities as it was open 24 hours a day and charged less than the other banks.
Det Chief Supt Felix McKenna, Criminal Assets Bureau, said Byrne had reached a tax settlement totalling £2.25 million.
He said that Byrne's undertaking not to take part in banking work of any description in the future would assist gardaí in policing money laundering. He agreed Byrne had learnt a severe lesson.
Judge Raymond Groarke will sentence Byrne on February 7th.