The wife of a senior associate of the Kinahan cartel has admitted transferring €140,000 to a man considered to be the second highest member of the crime organisation.
She, along with her husband and his 36-year-old girlfriend, will be sentenced next month after pleading guilty to money laundering offences.
In January 2017, gardaí found 15 guns and a substantial amount of ammo when they raided an industrial unit in Dublin.
Declan Brady, of Wolstan Abbey, Celbridge, Co Kildare, was arrested. Cash and financial documents were seized during a follow-up search of his home.
€135k in cash was found in his girlfriend’s house, at Lakeland in Naas. It was hidden in a bread bin and stuffed into boxes and laptop bags found in the attic.
His girlfriend, Erika Lukacs, didn’t know about the money in the house but admitted laundering almost €200k through various bank accounts.
Mr Brady’s wife, Deirdre, pleaded guilty to laundering €770k.
She made monthly transfers to a Spanish bank account in the name of another senior member of the Kinahan cartel, called Thomas Kavanagh.
The court also heard the Bradys also picked up the tab for a €66k family wedding at the Druid’s Glen Hotel. All three will be sentenced next month.
