Dublin 8 man jailed for money laundering

coBy Sonya McLean

A man who was caught on CCTV handing over a rucksack containing just under €200,000 to a Dutch national has been jailed for money laundering.

Paul Finnegan (37) of Grand Canal Bank, Dublin 8, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to having property – the proceeds of crime – at a shopping centre in Santry, Dublin 9, on November 30, 2020.

Detective Garda Susan Plunkett told Sarah Connolly BL, prosecuting, that a surveillance operation was in place by gardaí when Finnegan was spotted going into a café in a Dublin shopping centre and placing a rucksack at the feet of his co-accused.

This man picked up the rucksack and was then followed by gardaí as he left the café. He was stopped and the bag was found to contain €199,900, which had been separated into bundles of €50 and €20 notes. Some of the cash was vacuum packed.

A baseball cap found in the bag had Finnegan’s DNA on it.

The Dutch national has not yet been dealt with by the courts and there is a European arrest warrant out for his arrest.

Finnegan was identified by police officers from Northern Ireland after they viewed CCTV footage from the café. He was arrested but nothing came out of his subsequent interview. He has 18 previous convictions for District Court type of offences from the North.

The detective agreed with Dominic McGinn SC, defending, that his client was acting as a courier.

Mr McGinn said there was a letter in court written by Finnegan’s partner which spoke of the change she has seen in him since his arrest. They have a young child together and are due a second baby in the summer.

Counsel submitted that Finnegan has since changed his life around and is well respected in his local community. He asked the court to consider that five years have passed since the offence.

Judge Martin Nolan said that gardaí were “watching a situation develop” and it was clear that Finnegan had been transporting cash.

He said it was clear that it was “illicit money” and that money laundering allows money to be taken by criminals. He said that Finnegan made the decision to get involved and it was a “serious” offence.

He set a headline sentence of six years and reduced this to four years having taken into account mitigating factors including his plea of guilty and lack of serious convictions.