Rush to close criminal assets loophole

TOUGHER legislation is being put in place to allow CAB seize the assets of criminals who operate outside the State.

The new measures are being drawn up by the Government following yesterday’s decision by the Supreme Court that the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) cannot seize the proceeds of crimes committed outside the State.

With many key figures from the Irish criminal underworld now living outside the State, the proposed amendments are expected to be hastily made to the Proceeds of Crime Bill.

In the immediate wake of yesterday’s ruling, talks got underway between CAB officials, the Department of Justice, the Attorney General and the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel on plugging the legal loophole.

Since its inception, CAB has seized €141 million from some of the most notorious criminals in the country.

Yesterday’s Supreme Court case focused on an unnamed British criminal in his sixties who has a home in Co Wicklow which he bought for cash.

The court yesterday overturned a High Court order, granted to CAB, prohibiting the man from dealing with or selling the house.

The High Court order was granted on the basis that the property represented the proceeds of crime.

The Supreme Court found the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996, under which CAB operates, does not apply to the proceeds of crime committed outside the State.

The man against whom the order was made cannot be named for legal reasons but was described by Mr Justice Fennelly as having a long criminal record in Britain, including firearms and drug offences. He has no criminal record in Ireland.

The house in question was bought by the man in the late 1980s, without taking out a mortgage, for €128,000.

In 1993, it was transferred to the man’s partner for €5. Later, she executed a transfer of the house, dated 2000, in his favour for €10.

In evidence to the High Court, CAB said it became aware of the man in 1999 as a result of an anonymous letter.