€18m assets frozen in IRA money laundering probe

THE Assets Recovery Agency investigating IRA money laundering yesterday froze assets worth £11.8 million (€17.9m) in Manchester, but representatives of the men involved said they were optimistic of successfully fighting the decision in the courts.

The Assets Recovery Agency (ARA), based on the Irish Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), which is due to merge with another agency, served property freezing orders on two businessmen, Paul Dermot Craven and Brian Pepper.

The orders are the latest phase of the agency’s investigation which saw 15 properties in Manchester worth around £1.2m (€1.8m) frozen last November and December.

The agency has also been looking into the assets of Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy, alleged IRA chief of staff.

The ARA conducted searches in Manchester in October 2005 as part of its investigations and seized more than 350,000 records. However, it is understood that the latest property seizures do not relate to the alleged dealings between the businessmen and Murphy, but that the agency was alerted to them during its 2005 investigation.

In a High Court yesterday, the agency alleged the portfolio of 77 properties, with an equity value of around £4.7m (€7.15m), had been funded by the proceeds of financial crime and used to launder money.

The portfolio consists largely of tenanted flats and houses operated and owned by property companies based in Sale in Manchester

The freezing orders were served on Dermot Craven Developments Ltd, Avenue Holdings Ltd and DC & BP (2004) Ltd, although the agency stressed it was not alleging any criminal conduct by Dawn Craven, a director of Dermot Craven Developments Ltd, or Gerald Joseph Nightingale, a director of Avenue Holdings Ltd.

A solicitor for Craven, said his client “vehemently denies any involvement in criminal activity whatsoever in any of his businesses”.