Gilligan’s bail bid and the affidavit of the ex-CAB chief
‘It was either give an affidavit or be subpoenaed’ — McKenna
THE former head of the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), Felix McKenna, who oversaw the first attempts to strip John Gilligan of his ill-gotten gains, has given an affidavit which will be used by the convicted criminal’s legal team to support a bail application in a Belfast court tomorrow.
Asked if he had given an affidavit saying that the career Dublin criminal was not a ‘flight risk’, Mr McKenna, who was head of CAB from 1999 to 2006, told the Sunday Independent yesterday, “I didn’t say that under any circumstances.”
He said that he was contacted by Gilligan’s legal team and requested to appear at the hearing. “I said no. I am not supporting John Gilligan in any way; it was either give the affidavit or be subpoenaed to go to Belfast,” he said.
Mr McKenna said he set out the facts that during the 1980s and 1990s Gilligan, had been given bail at garda stations and the High Court, and that he had signed on in Blanchardstown Garda Station for over a year.
It is believed that new Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has instructed a senior garda to attend the bail hearing in Belfast to assist the PSNI after Mr McKenna’s affidavit led to serious concern in the National Crime Agency, which is handling the case in Northern Ireland.
Gilligan (66), who was known as ‘Factory John’ because of his warehouse robberies, later assaulted Veronica Guerin and ordered her assassination when she took assault proceedings against him; he was acquitted of the charges. He later served 17 years for drug offences.
He was arrested at Belfast Airport on August 23 trying to board a plane to Spain with €22,080 cash in his luggage. He has been held at Maghaberry Prison since, having been refused bail.
The court in Northern Ireland has been by told that Gilligan, with an address at Greenfort Crescent, Dublin, was shot six times in 2014 and was now “under death sentence and has been ordered out of Ireland”. His legal team claim the cash came from the sale of property.
“I was contacted about certain facts that I am very much familiar with, but in no way am I supporting his application,” said Mr McKenna, who retired as a chief superintendent, one of the most senior members of the Garda, having led CAB, set up after Veronica Guerin’s murder.
“I was contacted by his legal [team] in Belfast seeking... requesting me to go to Belfast and I said no. Thirty years ago I prosecuted him. I might have been the prosecuting garda four or five times and the question they wanted from me was didn’t I agree that he was granted bail in Dublin and the answer to that was yes. He was granted bail in cases in the 1980s and 1990s, including the ones I was prosecuting. He obtained High Court bail and signed on in Blanchardstown for a year — and he was found not guilty. They wanted me to say that that happened and that is all I answered. I am not supporting John Gilligan in any way.”
Asked if he felt that he was letting down the members of the Veronica Guerin investigation team, he said: “It was either give an affidavit or be subpoenaed to go to Belfast. All that I am saying is that he was a criminal in the 1980s. I was arresting officer in those years and he asked and was granted bail from the High Court. That is all that they got from me and in no way was I supporting his application.”
The case related to the robbery of a container from the Nilfisk warehouse; Gilligan was acquitted but later convicted of other offences.
Asked about the reaction former colleges in the Garda, Mr McKenna said, “I haven’t talked to them about that. I am not supporting him good, bad or indifferent. All I am saying is he got bail back then.”