Champagne loving ‘Hollywood’ Creaven’s €26.5m fall from VAT crime carousel
Perhaps his choice of tipple was no surprise — given the sparkling results his company recorded.
Creaven’s Silicon Technologies Europe Ltd saw a turnover of €416 million for the year 2000/2001 for the Irish operation and $46m (€36m) in respect of an American subsidiary based in Boston Massachusetts.
At the same time, he was paying a modest €80 a week for the two units his company operated from in Clare. Creaven this week paid a record €26.5m to the Garda Criminal Assets Bureau and the Assets Recovery Agency in the UK.
He operated Silicon Technologies from a government-funded centre in Ennis, reserved for companies until “they get off their feet”.
While Silicon Technologies operated sales offices in Europe, the US and in Asia, its headquarters were at the Clare Business Centre at Francis Street, in Ennis, which Creaven rented from Shannon Development.
One former tenant of the same business centre said: “It was very, very cheap. It was very handy for people starting out but to think that we were told at the time by Shannon Development that Dylan Creaven was ‘the man to emulate’ is now a bit of a joke. How could anyone make that kind of money operating out of a 20ft by 22ft room for which he paid peanuts?”
In October 2002, only weeks before Creaven was arrested, Silicon announced the opening of a new office in Singapore. Silicon Technologies Asia Pacific was based on level 26 of the prestigious Hitachi Tower.
But Creaven was arrested on November 19, 2002 following a joint investigation code named ‘Operation Chipstick.’
The operation was a joint venture between British Customs & Excise, Officers from Customs & Excise Enforcement from Ireland and CAB.
It had been alleged Creaven operated a “carousel” scheme involving the repeat charging of VAT on high-value computer components, but the VAT was not declared to the UK revenue.
Originally, Creaven was accused of VAT fraud involving stg£162m (€232m), but, when the case reached court, the charges were reduced to two charges of conspiracy to defraud the public revenue of stg£14m (€21).
Creaven, who owns plush homes at De Vere Gardens in Kensington, London and at Woodstock in Ennis, spent the following eleven and half months in custody at Wandsworth Prison in South West London before being granted bail under strict conditions, in November 2003.
Creaven and his companies had denied the claims and he was acquitted on all counts in May 2005.
In judicial review proceedings taken here in 2004, Mr Creaven and his two companies, Silicon Technologies Europe Ltd and Brandenville Holdings in Limerick, successfully challenged two sets of search warrants issued on November 18, 2002.
The Supreme court made an order allowing for the destruction or handing back of documents seized from Creaven’s luxury home, his company premises, and his accountant’s offices.
The 33-year-old is the son of Louis and Harriet Creaven and lived with his brother and three sisters, as a child, at Knocknagun, Newmarket on Fergus, Co Clare.
Louis Creaven has for years been the driving force behind the Mid-Western Regional Hospital Trust, which has raised millions to improve facilities at hospitals in the Mid-West.
The trust is responsible for the radiotherapy unit which was installed despite Department of Health opposition at the Regional Hospital in Limerick.
Dylan attended primary school in Shannon and went onto secondary education at St Flannan’s College, in Ennis.
In his early years as a businessman, it is known he also owned a pub in Limerick along with a partner for some years. And he was also a sponsor of Garryowen rugby club up to six years ago. His company logo was emblazoned on the club’s light blue jersey.
He was a lavish entertainer at home games where his top of the range Mercedes had it’s own specially reserved space. It was one of five Mercs he owned which CAB were to seize along with a number of race horses.
Creaven lived in a mansion built at Woodstock outside Ennis and CAB officers were amazed at the rows of suits and in his elaborate wardrobe as they searched the home.
He and his common law wife also shared a magnificent house on Limerick’s Ennis Road.
Creaven was also a delight for nightclub and restaurant owners. One business source said: “On a night out nothing was spared. He had a particular liking for Dromoland Castle, which is just down the road form the family home in Newmarket on Fergus. His lavish tips often came to more than the bill for the food and drink.”
He also insisted that he and his guests were served wine and champagne from crystal glasses.
Perhaps ‘Hollywood’, down €26.5m, will from now on have to be a little less lavish.
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