The trial of Ted Cunningham and his son, charged with laundering more than £3m from the Northern Bank raid, has heard evidence from gardaí.
Garda Inspector Declan O'Sullivan was the detective who led the search of Ted Cunningham's home at Farran in Co Cork in the early hours of 17 February 2005.
Today he told the money laundering trial at the Circuit Criminal Court in Cork that Mr Cunningham was not present when he arrived at the house just before midnight, and he did not get to the house until around 4am.
At that stage, Inspector O'Sullivan said, most of the search had been completed but he said he was concerned about a cupboard in the basement that was locked with a combination.
As he went to the basement, Ted Cunningham told him there were some personal items in the cupboard. The detective asked what they were and Mr Cunningham replied 'money'.
When the detective asked how much, Mr Cunningham said 'a couple of million sterling'.
Inspector O'Sullivan said there was a moment of shocked silence when gardaí burst open the cupboard and saw five or six holdall bags and a Dunnes Stores bag bulging with Northern Ireland sterling.
He said Ted Cunningham blurted out that the money was not from the Northern Bank robbery.
Inspector O'Sullivan asked why he thought the gardaí would think that and he said Mr Cunningham replied: 'As soon as I saw it on the telly I knew I had that money down there in the basement.'
The money was in bundles wrapped in elastic bands. There were pieces of wood on top of some of the bags with various figures, which he assumed was the amount the bags contained.
Inspector O'Sullivan said none of the bags were closed because they were so full, and he could clearly see into them. He said he could see they contained Northern Irish currency.
Inspector O'Sullivan said he moved into an adjoining laundry room and spoke to Ted Cunningham around 15 minutes later. He said he cautioned Mr Cunningham and took a note of his replies to questions put to him.
He asked Mr Cunningham who owned the holdall bags and Mr Cunningham replied they were in his possession at the moment. Mr Cunningham said that when the sale of the sandpit went through they would be his. He said the bags contained £2.3m, which he got from clients he was dealing with in Bulgaria. He said he would name the clients, but he needed to contact them first.
He said he was going to lodge the money in a bank and declare it to the Revenue Commissioners in the next few weeks.
He said he had received a phone call the previous September or October (2004) telling him to meet a man in the churchyard opposite his home.
