Alleged money launderer John Gilligan has been bailed to an undisclosed address days after a death threat was delivered to a house he was hoping to be released to.
It is understood the 66-year-old was released from Magheraberry Prison yesterday afternoon after spending five months on remand.
Lawyers for the Dublin man returned to court yesterday for permission to release the pensioner to a new address, which was agreed with the PSNI.
A court agreed last month that Gilligan could be released to an address in the Springhill area of west Belfast.
However, within hours the PSNI had visited the house to deliver a death threat and warn that protests may be held outside the property.
Gilligan been held on remand on a charge of attempting to remove criminal property from Northern Ireland on August 23 last year after he was arrested at Belfast International Airport with E23,000 in a suitcase.
During a court hearing last month a prosecutor said that if he was found guilty the maximum sentence would be six months.
He has already served five months on remand, which is the equivalent of a 10-month sentence.
Gilligan’s legal representative Niall Ó Murchú from Kinnear and Co Solicitors said: “We are relieved that Mr Gilligan has perfected bail having served the equivalent of a ten and a half month sentence without any evidence thus far being produced.
“Mr Gilligan looks forward to contesting these charges in due course and will do so robustly and in due course expects to recover his confiscated money.”
