A Dublin man has been convicted at the Special Criminal Court of six charges of money-laundering connected with criminal activity. Kevin Meehan (61), Stanaway Road, Kimmage, Dublin, was found guilty of handling sterling bank drafts totalling £92,351.17; £4,500 in cash and a cheque for £4,000 knowing the money was the proceeds of criminal activity in 1995 and 1996.
The court found that the State had not proved the money-laundering charges were related to drug-trafficking but were related to other criminal activity.
Meehan was also convicted of removing the money from the State to assist in the avoidance of prosecution or the making of a confiscation order. He was cleared of one count of handling sterling bank drafts totalling £93,386.34 on August 8th, 1996.
Meehan is the father of Brian Meehan, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin in June 1996.
His brother, Thomas Meehan (51), Ballymount, Dublin, pleaded guilty earlier this month to a number of money-laundering offences. He has admitted handling sterling bank drafts with a total value of £148,386.34 in August and September 1996, knowing that the money was the proceeds of drug-trafficking or other criminal activity.
He has also pleaded guilty to handling cash and bank drafts worth a total of £145,167 in pounds and sterling in February, March and April 1996 knowing the money was the proceeds of criminal activity.
Both men were remanded in custody for sentencing tomorrow. The trial was told that Kevin Meehan and his son Brian deposited more than £600,000 sterling in a Vienna bank. The prosecution had claimed that the money was the proceeds of an illegal drugs distribution operation run by a gang, which included Brian Meehan.
Kevin Meehan told gardai he believed the money came from gambling and tobacco sales. He told them he lived on social welfare payments of about £60 a week and that large sums of money deposited abroad belonged to his son who had made profits from gambling and selling of tobacco.
Det Insp Terry McGinn of the Garda National Bureau of Fraud Investigation said the money deposited in Vienna had been frozen by the High Court and the Director of Public Prosecutions would consider making an external confiscation order.
She said Kevin Meehan had no previous convictions and was working as a taxi-driver in Dublin. She said Thomas Meehan believed he was involved in dealing with money from illegal tobacco sales. In August 1996 he became aware that it was the proceeds of drug-trafficking and he tried to extricate himself but found it difficult. He closed his accounts and transferred money to the Isle of Man, from where it was transferred to Kevin and Brian Meehan's accounts in Vienna. Brian Meehan had total control of all the money in relation to his father and his uncle.
When Thomas Meehan became aware of the criminal activity Brian Meehan was involved in, he sacked his brother from the building company he had employed him in. Thomas Meehan got no personal benefit from the money he had handled. He had no previous convictions.
In relation to Kevin Meehan, Mr Justice Barr said: "The court is satisfied that the funds in question after a certain date represented in whole or in part Brian Meehan's share of the proceeds from the criminal drug business as described by Charles Bowden and Russell Warren and that prior to that time, represented in whole or in part Brian Meehan's share of the proceeds from the illegal sales of tobacco and cigarettes as described by Warren.
"However there is no evidence connecting the accused in any way with the illegal drug business or establishing in terms that he had knowledge of it at the time of the alleged offences."
The judge continued: "The court . . . is not satisfied that the State has established the degree of proof necessary to secure a conviction in respect of money-laundering derived from drug-trafficking."
On six counts, the court concluded that the money represented in whole or in part another person's proceeds of criminal activity and convicted Kevin Meehan. On a seventh count, the court found only a "very slight connection to the accused" in relation to the bank drafts and found him not guilty.