Supreme Court refuses  Limerick drug dealer's CAB appeal

The Supreme Court, Dublin: Refused to hear an appeal against a finding that several properties in the midwest were bought with the proceeds of crime. Picture: Laura Hutton/RollingNews.ie

The Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal against a finding that several properties in the midwest were bought with the proceeds of crime.

The houses were acquired by John McCormack with previous addresses in Shannon, Co Clare; Roxboro, Co Limerick; and the Canary Islands.

The Criminal Assets Bureau claimed that the three properties, located at Purcell Park, Cloontra West, and Claughan Fort, were funded from the proceeds of crime.

In 2020 Mr Justice Alexander Owens in the High Court said he was satisfied to make orders under the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 restraining Mr McCormack or any person having notice of the making of the order from disposing or otherwise dealing with the properties identified.

Mr McCormack appealed the decision to the Court of Appeal, which upheld the findings.

He sought to appeal those decisions on the grounds that the actions raised issues of general public importance.

In a written decision the Supreme Court, comprised of Chief Justice Mr Justice Donal O'Donnell, Mr Justice Peter Charleton, and Ms Justice Marie Baker, said it did not consider that the appeal court's decision contained any issue of general public importance and that it was not in the interests of justice to allow the appeal.

In his application Mr McCormack had argued that his wife and daughter were living in some of the properties involved and which were accordingly family homes.

He argued that CAB should have joined his spouse and daughter to the proceedings and that a failure to do so deprived them of the opportunity to assert that the making of the order would constitute an injustice.

He also argued that while the 1996 act permits a senior garda officer to offer evidence of belief, this does not permit what was described as “hearsay upon hearsay”. This, it was claimed, arose in this case when a relevant witness stated that he relied in part upon the evidence of individual identified members of An Garda Síochána, who also gave evidence in the case.

He further objected to the refusal to grant him legal aid to defend the claim.

The Supreme Court held that there had been an extensive hearing of this matter in the High Court and a detailed and comprehensive judgment delivered, with a further careful review carried out in the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

The Supreme Court said that Mr McCormack also wanted to restrain a receiver from taking charge of the properties.

The High Court had made an order in June 2021 appointing a receiver.

However, that was not the order made by Mr Justice Owens in 2020, nor was it the subject of the appeal to the Court of Appeal and the application to the Supreme Court.

The reference to an obligation to put his spouse and daughter on notice of the proceedings appears misconceived, the Supreme Court added.

It had not explained how this was a matter of which Mr McCormack could complain or how it could affect the issue between him and the CAB, the Supreme Court said.

The Court of Appeal had pointed out that the supposed notice parties were unaware of the existence of CAB's proceedings.

The question of legal aid was fully canvassed and considered by the High Court and the Court of Appeal.

The High Court found that the evidence established that Mr McCormack "had for many years been involved in serious criminal activity, that the nature of that activity was such that it was likely he gained financially from it, and that the income generated was likely to have been the source of the funds with which each of the properties was acquired".

During the proceedings, a detective sergeant said from confidential sources he knew Mr McCormack "to be one of the biggest suppliers of illegal drugs based in the midwest of Ireland and that, with others, he had been responsible for the importation into Ireland of vast quantities of drugs since the late 1990s."