A woman has appeared in court charged with allegedly money laundering sums of more than €1m, including €750,000 allegedly spent in a Dublin city department store on luxury handbags.
Yuwen Yun (33), a Chinese national with an address at Fairy Hill, Blackrock, Co Dublin, appeared at Dun Laoghaire District Court on Wednesday morning after been charged with three counts of money laundering contrary to section 7 of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing) Act 2010.
Solicitor Tracy Horan applied for bail for Ms Yun, a mother of two.
Detective Garda Steven Dunican, attached to Blackrock garda station, said Ms Yun had been arrested and charged with allegedly spending €750,000 on luxury handbags, having €350,000 worth of luxury handbags in her house and moving €250,000 through her bank account.
He told Judge Anne Watkin the case arose from an investigation into a complex money laundering scheme and the charges are serious.
He said gardai are concerned that Ms Yun was a potential flight risk but, noting that one of her children is very young, he indicated gardai would consent to bail on condition she surrender her Chinese passport.
The judge, who was told the DPP had given consent to the case been sent forward to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for trial on indictment, granted bail and put the matter back to January 7th for service of the book of evidence.
