Drug traffickers 'buying homes with bogus papers'

Drug traffickers and armed robbers are buying houses with bogus documents in order to conceal the proceeds of crime, it was claimed today.

The Criminal Assets Bureau said the criminals then sell on the property to an unsuspecting mortgage holder as a way of laundering their cash.

Cab’s chief officer Det Chief Supt John O’Mahony said such property-related fraud was becoming very common and getting very sophisticated.

“It is quite prevalent. The fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated and organised,” he told the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and Public Service.

“While we have the ability to investigate such offences we believe it is vital that more be done in terms of prevention.

“There is a need for close co-operation between the financial institutions and law-enforcement agencies.”

The senior officer ran a slideshow displaying bogus tax forms, utility bills and bank statements used to obtain mortgages.

He added: “The persons applying for the loan give false information in terms of earnings and occupations, often backed up by false P60s or wage slips in the names of fictitious companies or from other associates involved in businesses.”

“Some of these documents are very genuine, very real and very difficult to detect,” he told TDs and Senators.

“In fact some of the Revenue inspectors in Cab would be hard-pressed to spot the fraudulent tax forms.”

Mr O’Mahony also revealed that recession-hit builders had resorted to a recent type of fraud the Bureau labelled the ’builder’s bailout’ whereby a builder creates a false identity for a ’person’ using bogus documents.

“It is something that is driven by the downturn in the economy,” said Mr O’Mahony.

“Until a short while ago builders didn’t have any problems selling their properties but obviously now they have.

“They couldn’t do it without the fraudsters who provide the false documentation.”

Mr O’Mahony said Cab is continuously liaising with overseas law enforcement agencies to share intelligence on new trends.

“The bad guy is always catching up,” he told the committee.

He added that he had sufficient powers to deal with the issues the Bureau is confronted with.“