Bank’s move a cynical one
Judge slams cynical cartel who ‘recruit foot soldiers’
THE decision by AIB not to consider issuing mortgages to any of the thousands of workers on State Covid-19 subsidies is an outrage and must be overturned.
Once again the country’s biggest bank is putting its interests before the public’s.
There is a real danger other lenders will take a similar approach which will completely undermine the Government’s attempts to stimulate the economy.
As the State holds a 71% stake in AIB, the Finance Minister has a duty to the public to ensure he puts pressure on this bank to reverse this despicable decision.
THE Kinahan Cartel is a cynical crime gang that preys upon the “desperate and foolish” in recruiting “dispensable foot soldiers”, a judge said yesterday.
Mr Justice Tony Hunt was speaking at the Special Criminal Court as he jailed three men who took part in a plot to kill a member of the Hutch family in Dublin’s north inner city.
Michael Burns, 43, was sentenced to nine years while Stephen Curtis, 32, and 25-year-old Ciaran O’driscoll were handed five years each for their role in the plot to murder Patrick “Patsy” Hutch.
Mr Justice Hunt added the court was satisfied they were working for the Kinahan gang, which is involved in money laundering and drugs.
The judge emphasised the “cynicism” of the cartel, where “vulnerable” individuals took risks for surprisingly modest returns.
He said Burns acted as a “conduit” and was a supervisor of the sub-cell who organised logistics, including phones, guns and cars, and got directions from “higher echelons”.
He received instructions from Suspect No1 via an encrypted phone.
His role was to ensure the smooth running of the plot, although he was not the author of these instructions.
Mr Justice Hunt said there was no doubt Burns’ assistance was of considerable help to the “insidious and destructive” nature of the Kinahan organisation.
He added the weightiest mitigation factor was his guilty plea which deserved a straight 25% discount.
Burns did not gain financially and was of no fixed abode at the time. He had not acquired a significant criminal record until his mid-30s.
The judge said the court accepted Curtis’ assistance was limited but was valuable at the last stage in the plot.
He was involved in sub-cell meetings and in buying phones and SIM cards to be used by the
“hit-team”. He was recorded expressing reservations about Suspect No1 and said he wanted to get out of the gang.
Mr Justice Hunt said Curtis did not stand to gain from his involvement and the €500 owed to him for his role was “as good an illustration as any to the risk and reward” involved.
He added he was the type of person who would be “preyed” upon and this crime represented “a massive step up” from previous convictions.
The judge said O’driscoll agreed to perform the vital function of “looker”, who would watch Mr Hutch’s house and signal the killers when he emerged.
He was unlikely to have been picked were it not for the “happenstance” his grandmother also lived on Champions Avenue.
His presence on the road would not have been out of place.
O’driscoll did not stand to gain in any significant way and naively took enormous risks by using his own phone which assisted in his