Man jailed after €310,000 of cash found in Dublin hotel room

By Eimear Dodd

A man has been jailed after €310,000 of cash was found concealed in food containers, suitcases and a speaker in his Dublin hotel room.

Andrii Pastukh (40) pleaded guilty to possession of the proceeds of crime at the Clayton Hotel, Clonshaugh on November 28 last.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that during a garda operation, Pastukh was observed handing over a bag to a co-accused at the hotel on November 27 last, who then travelled with another co-accused to another hotel in Dublin city centre.

Gardai searched Pastukh’s hotel room in the early hours of November 28 and he told them that he didn’t have any cash or drugs.

When they searched the room, gardai found €310,405 concealed in two suitcases, rucksacks, and concealed inside baby food, tubs of Pringles and a speaker.

The food had been partially emptied from these containers, the court heard.

A room in the city centre hotel was searched at the same time and over €311,700 was found in a safe.

Pastukh was arrested. He handed over his phone and pin, with gardai finding the Telegram app on it.

When interviewed, Pastukh initially made limited admissions, but gave a full account across the six interviews.

Pastukh told gardai he came to Ireland three days earlier from Athens. He said he collected more money than expected and was instructed to hand some of it over to the co-accused.

The investigating garda told the court that the investigation team are satisfied some of the money found in the second hotel room had come from Pastukh.

Pastukh has no previous convictions and told gardai this was the first time he’d been involved in this.

The investigating garda agreed with Seamus Clarke SC, defending, that his client lived in Germany from 2017 to 2022, before returning to Ukraine to assist his family after the war started.

It was further accepted that Pastukh moved to Ireland in 2023, then later went to Greece, where he was approached on Telegram in a Ukrainian group to get involved in this enterprise.

It was also agreed that Pastukh was being instructed by a third party and was in a trusted role to collect money from others and bring it out of the country.

Letters from Pastukh, his wife, father, mother-in-law and work colleagues were handed to the court.

Pastukh has a long work history, initially as accountant, then in landscaping after his move to Germany in 2017.

Mr Clarke said his client regrets his involvement and regards it as the biggest mistake he has ever made.

His client’s involvement was for a small financial gain of €2,000, Mr Clarke noted, asking the court to take into account his client’s guilty plea, lack of previous convictions and admissions.

Judge Martin Nolan noted that Pastukh’s function was to bring money out of the jurisdiction to another location and the court had to infer he was going to receive some financial reward.

He said it seemed that Pastukh was “trusted to some degree” as a person is not trusted with that amount of money unless it is known they will fulfil that task.

Judge Nolan said that money laundering is a “serious matter”, and that Pastukh is a “mature man” who knew what he was doing.

Having considered the mitigation and Pastukh’s personal circumstances, Judge Nolan imposed a five-year sentence, backdated to when he went into custody.