Gerard Hutch has been told he can remain at liberty and travel freely between Lanzarote and Ireland for the time being despite being under investigation in Spain for alleged money laundering.
The 61-year-old used his political aspirations to secure bail a month ago so he could stand as a candidate in the general election in Dublin Central. He was beaten to the final seat by Labour’s Marie Sherlock after transfers from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil saw her overtake Hutch in the last two counts.
It emerged on Wednesday that the crime boss plans to return to his holiday home in Lanzarote after spending Christmas with his family in Ireland. Officials on the Spanish island confirmed his election loss did not mean an automatic return to prison.
One of the arguments accepted by public prosecutors and the investigating judge who permitted his release following his October 23rd arrest and incarceration — and attached a travel ban to his release — was that it would harm his election chances. Hutch paid a €100,000 bail bond before his release from Tahiche Prison in Arrecife was permitted on November 4th.
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Asked about Hutch’s circumstances, a spokesman for the Canary Islands High Court said: “His personal situation has not changed. For it to change public prosecutors, as the sole plaintiff in this case, would have to request it and argue why they believe a hypothetical return to pretrial custody would be appropriate in this case and the judge would then have to make a ruling after prosecution submissions.
“As of today, this is not something that has happened. The ball is very much therefore in the public prosecution service’s court.”
Film director Jim Sheridan, who was working on a documentary with Hutch during the election campaign, said the Dubliner would be in Ireland and “then he is heading back to sunnier climes”.
Hutch was one of nine people accused of belonging to a “criminal money-laundering gang” arrested during raids by police in Lanzarote and mainland Spain on October 23rd. One of the properties searched was his €450,000 penthouse in the Costa del Sol holiday resort of Fuengirola.
A judge remanded Hutch and an alleged associate to prison following behind-closed-doors court appearances but released the other seven suspects on bail. The Spanish court imposed no conditions on his release with the investigating magistrate taking Hutch’s intention to run in the Irish general election into account.
Hutch had claimed that his detention would have caused “irreparable damage” to his right to participate in the election.
The other person remanded in prison on October 25th remains in prison, the court said.
Legal experts said that even if Hutch was elected in Dublin, he would still have been liable to extradition and prosecution in Spain regarding the money laundering investigation.
Spanish members of parliament are entitled to immunity from prosecution in the ordinary courts in certain circumstances, said Adrián Rubio, adjunct professor of public law at IE Universidad in Spain.
Formal charges have not been laid as is normal in Spain where suspects are only charged shortly before trial. It could be some time before Hutch discovers whether or not he is likely to face trial.
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