GERRY Hutch has offered a six-figure sum to get out of a Lanzarote prison on bail, the Irish Sun can reveal.
The Monk’s lawyers are embroiled in a major legal battle behind closed doors in the Canary Island courts to get him out of jail.
It is understood the Monk, 61, has offered a six-figure bail bond and agreed to surrender his passport if the investigating judge in Lanzarote will grant him bail.
The crime boss was arrested last Wednesday and accused of leading a massive international money laundering operation by the Spanish authorities.
But as of yesterday morning he was still banged up behind bars in Tahiche Prison outside Arrecife, the main town in Lanzarote.
And if bail continues to be refused Hutch could spend up to 18 months in custody without being charged while Spanish authorities investigate the allegations against him.
It is understood the Guardia Civil who are probing his case are objecting to his bail and release.
They allege he and his cohorts were moving large sums of money from abroad and using it to buy properties on the holiday island.
The Monk and his business associates are said to own up to ten different holiday homes and apartments and the police are trying to establish where the money came from.
Gerry Hutch, who is from Dublin’s north inner city but living in Clontarf while in Ireland, is denying any wrongdoing.
Over two years ago, 64-year-old Johnny Morrissey, a leading member of the Kinahan cartel, was arrested on the Costa Del Sol.
He was accused of laundering up to €200 million in cash for the Kinahan cartel.
Morrissey, following objections from the police, was held for 21 months in custody at a maximum security prison outside Malaga.
He was refused bail at every turn while enquiries into his case were ongoing.
The Marbella socialite was eventually freed on a bail of €60,000 last June.
KINAHANS FREED
He has never been charged and continues to profess his innocence.
His former boss Daniel Kinahan was himself caged in May 2010 along with his dad Christy and brother Christopher while awaiting charges that were never brought.
They were freed on bail from three separate prisons in November of that year.
Yesterday, a Spanish legal source told the Irish Sun: “Gerry will find it difficult to get bail if the police are against him. But if he offers substantial funds and agrees to stay in Lanzarote, he has a chance.
‘COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SYSTEM’
“He also has the right to appeal whatever decision is being made in Lanzarote to the Canary Islands High Court, if it goes against him and bail is denied.
“They don’t mess about here – people regularly spend a year or two in jail without ever being charged and then they could be set free altogether and never be tried.
“It is a completely different legal system than Ireland and Britain.”
MURDER RAP ACQUITTAL
The Dubliner has a holiday home outside Puerto del Carmen where he has been living most of the time since he was freed from prison and acquitted for the murder of David Byrne by the Special Criminal Court in April last year.
Byrne was shot dead in the Regency Hotel attack in 2016.
Yesterday the Gardai said they had no comment to make on Gerry Hutch’s arrest in Spain and that it was a matter for the authorities there.
They said: “An Garda Siochana does not comment on investigations in another jurisdiction.”
