Irish Money Laundering Surges to 2,768 Cases in 2023; Limerick Garage Seized

Money laundering in Ireland has surged, with 2,768 offences recorded in 2023, up from 53 in 2017 and 996 in 2022. Organised crime often uses car sales for laundering large sums, turning drug money into high-value assets like luxury vehicles, which can then be resold. This method is distinct from other common practices like mixing criminal cash with legitimate business income in various sectors, including beauty salons, pubs, and fast-food restaurants.

A significant case involved Stephen Bawn Motors Limited, a Co Limerick garage, which was raided by the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) in March 2019. The operation, one of Cab’s largest, resulted in the seizure of 115 vehicles, valued at €2 million. The High Court later ruled that almost all seized cars were proceeds of crime, concluding the garage was an «engine of fraud, fuelled by money laundering» from its inception.

Stephen O’Sullivan, the main shareholder, was charged with bribing a Garda member with €20,000 for information, though this case collapsed in February. Cab evidence linked O’Sullivan and associates Mike Nash and Shane Curtin, both from Newcastle West, Co Limerick, to running the business and being in league with criminals. Nash and Curtin were suspected of drug trafficking, and another alleged associate, John O’Donoghue from Rathkeale, was linked to the Keane drugs gang and Kinahan cartel. Curtin was also linked to the McCarthy-Dundon gang. Despite these rival gangs being involved, the garage generated an €8 million annual turnover by using criminal money from Ireland to buy cars in Britain, import them, and sell them, with proceeds withdrawn from Bawn Motors.

Money laundering, as defined by the Central Bank, involves three stages: placement (introducing criminal cash into the financial system), layering (moving money to obscure its origin), and integration (reintroducing it into the legitimate economy). Even a single stage or a modest sum moved to distance it from its criminal origins constitutes money laundering under the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010.