http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/cab-gets-600k-judgment-against-ira-man-who-hid-cash-in-box-of-daz-29121349.html
THE Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) has secured a judgment for more than €600,000 against a convicted IRA man who was suspected of money laundering after he was found with more than €94,000 in a Daz washing powder box.
Don Bullman, a chef, was found with the money when he was arrested by gardai outside Heuston Station in Dublin in February 2005, and he was subsequently jailed for IRA membership.
The Irish Independent has learned the High Court has now granted a judgment to CAB for in excess of €600,000 for what was described as Revenue debts following an investigation into his affairs.
The court heard that CAB officers carried out an examination of Bullman's tax assessments from 1999/2000 to the end of 2004 and secured a court order to obtain bank details and other financial records.
The bureau's assessment of Bullman's financial position was subsequently affirmed on appeal. The High Court was told CAB had collected some money but significant debts were still outstanding.
Bullman was arrested in 2005 by gardai acting on intelligence that members of the Provisional IRA from the Cork region were involved in the movement of money that was part of the proceeds from a robbery at the Northern Bank in Belfast in December 2004 when £26.5m (€39m) was stolen.
Bullman, of Fernwood Crescent, Leghanamore, Wilton, Cork, was convicted by the Special Criminal Court in February 2007 of membership of the IRA and sentenced to four years' imprisonment.
The court heard evidence from anti-terrorist officers that they had received information that Bullman would be meeting other personnel at Heuston that day with a view to transferring some of the finances, which were part of the robbery.
Bullman was arrested after he met two Derry men in a 4x4 at the station.
When they examined a rucksack found in the back of the jeep, officers found a Daz box containing €94,250 hidden in washing powder. The Daz box contained bundles of euro notes wrapped in clingfilm.
In interviews with gardai, Bullman denied all knowledge of the box and claimed not to have noticed it until gardai asked him to pick it up.
Buddy
Bullman
said he was meeting the two men to discuss travel arrangements to a
Celtic soccer match and referred to one of the men as his "best buddy".
Mr
Justice Paul Butler said the court was satisfied that the Daz box
containing the money was in Bullman's holdall and accepted the evidence
of an assistant commissioner that Bullman was a member of the IRA.
Bullman subsequently lost an appeal against his conviction for IRA membership.
See Also [2009] IECCA 84
http://www.courts.ie/__80256F2B00356A6B.nsf/0/2E8F4E99293A4A6B8025760200589201?Open&Highlight=0,bullman,~language_en~
