Coining it in: Firm that helps asylum seekers made profit of €246k and owns property valued at €420K
John Gill sr later transferred his shares in Astervale Ltd to another director, but he still remains a director as well.
Gill senior’s Dublin address is listed on company records and is the same one that has been used by his son in various court appearances.
It is also the same address given in evidence by the Criminal Assets Bureau which named Jonathan Gill as a member of an organised crime gang along with veteran gangster Paschal Kelly.
According to figures published by the government Astervale was paid €414,505 from 2022 until April 2024.
Documents filed with the Company Records Office show it made a profit of €246,000 in 2023 and the company owns a property worth €420,000.
On the government’s e-tender website the company’s address in relation to a €134,505 contract was given as “Astervale self-catering apartments” in Wicklow.
Jonathan Gill claims to be a legitimate businessman
Gill sr and Ian Bonny were first registered as directors in August 2022 with Gill initially owning 95 per cent of the shares.
He then transferred his shares to Mr Bonny in October 2022 who has since been the 100 per cent shareholder in the company.
When contacted by the Sunday World this week Mr Bonny said: “I don’t really have much interest in talking to you, sorry.”
In May last year the company applied for planning permission to change the use of private house at Kildalkey, Co Meath to a guesthouse.
There were several submissions from local people who objected to the proposed development in the rural area.
The application as later withdrawn according to the online planning file.
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Ben O’Brien resigned in May as a director of Secure Accommodation, which has been paid €10.2 million since it was set up in September 2022.
O’Brien (31) was among several people named in evidence in the 2022 Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) case against gang bosses Owen and Brendan Maguire.
In April 2019, O’Brien was outside his father Derek Kavanagh’s home in Hardman Gardens, Drogheda with three others when a gunman opened fire.
The shooting is detailed in an affidavit lodged by Cab as part of their case against the Maguire brothers.
Jonathan Gill also featured in Cab evidence in a case brought against Paschal Kelly in which it was alleged they controlled a crime gang involved in major cocaine deals, bank robberies and burglaries.
Kelly is one of the county’s most infamous criminals and is currently serving an 18-year sentence for a €92,000 post office robbery and ‘tiger’ kidnapping.
Unlike Kelly, Gill has no serious criminal convictions and openly runs a mediation service where he offers to sort out disputes for a fee outside of the courts system.
Jonathan Gill
Gill previously told the Sunday World his company was “very efficient” at solving disputes and has been hired by couples who are separating but want to avoid going to court.
When asked what he would say to people who claim he is involved in organised crime, he answered: “I’d say, prove it.”
However, as part of the original evidence highlighting Kelly’s gangland background during the ‘90s and 2000s, Cab described Gill as “a close criminal associate” of the caged criminal.
A massive €1.3 million haul of cocaine seized at an apartment in Donabate 20 years ago was linked to their organised crime gang, according to the Bureau.
“It is believed the drugs captured belonged to the criminal gang over which Pascal Kelly and Jonathan Gill exert substantial control.”
CAB court evidence suggested that Jonathan Gill and Paschal Kelly (pictured) controlled a crime gang
It was also claimed the apartment in question was being used to cut up, mix and compress cocaine and officers from Coolock found 19 kilos of the drug.
Both men were later prosecuted for separate tiger kidnap robberies for which Kelly was jailed and Gill had charges against him dropped over a 2011 robbery.
During one bail hearing before his trial, it was alleged by gardaí that Gill was one of “top criminals in the country.”
had been accused of kidnapping a postal worker, his partner and their 10-week-old daughter before robbing €660,000 from the man’s work. He denied the charges.
He was also a target for the Criminal Assets Bureau himself and a judgement for €559,000 was registered against him in 2016.
In 2023 Gill had teamed up with veteran gangster Martin Foley in an apparent debt collection enterprise.