Millions of pounds passed through accounts in Dublin controlled by men linked to the ongoing money laundering trial in Lugano, Switzerland.
One account, in the name of Mr Paul Murphy, a defendant in the trial, was with an institution in the International Financial Services Centre and saw inward payments of millions of US dollars in 1998.
All banks involved made prompt reports to the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation, as required under money laundering legislation. As gardai were conducting inquiries into 23 accounts in the names of various parties, they were contacted by the Swiss authorities and asked for assistance with their inquiries.
Accounts examined by gardai included those in the names of Mr Murphy, an associate of his, Mr Thomas A Forde, with an address in Co Dublin, and a Dublin accountant whose name is being withheld for legal reasons. A property developer from the south-east may also be involved.
Gardai also examined accounts in the names of companies and trusts, including two trusts mentioned in the Lugano trial: the Hibo trust and the Ascot trust. Both are Irish registered.
The bulk of the money passed through the accounts in 1997-98. It arrived into this jurisdiction from banks in continental Europe and the US and was transferred on to a variety of offshore locations.
Bank managers and officials from the banks in which the accounts were opened were interviewed by gardai and gave evidence on deposition to the Irish courts. This and other information gathered by the Irish authorities was then passed on to the Swiss. Little or no money remains in this jurisdiction.
Mr Murphy and Mr Andrew Winters, from Surrey, England, are being prosecuted in relation to money laundering and the financing of drug dealing. They have denied knowing that money they handled may have been linked to South American cocaine deals.
At least some of the Hibo trust money went missing after it was lodged to a bank in Colombia to which a man named Todd Faught had access. Faught was jailed by a court in Miami, Florida, two years ago for drugs offences. Mr Forde gave evidence in that trial after being requested to do so by the US Drug Enforcement Administration. The hearing has heard he was an agency informant. Mr Forde was asked to attend the Swiss hearing to give evidence and was offered immunity from prosecution while doing so. He did not take up the invitation, saying he was unwell.
Earlier this week he told The Irish Times he had never done business with Mr Winters and had done very little with Mr Murphy. He said a meeting which Mr Winters claimed occurred in Dublin in December 1998 never took place. Mr Winters told the Lugano court the meeting broke up when Mr Forde began to issue threats after he had unsuccessfully argued he should have been given part of the profits from transactions involving millions of dollars in cash, which Mr Murphy was organising in Switzerland.
