Shatter: CAB model should be adopted by EU

Crime bosses should not be able to live in luxury in another EU country from the proceeds of criminal activities in Ireland — Justice Minister Alan Shatter has told his fellow EU ministers.

He has put forward a blueprint based on Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau which he wants them to adopt.

It goes much further than current proposals on the table that would allow cross-border cooperation that would see criminals lose their assets provided they were convicted by the courts first.

But Mr Shatter believes this is not tough enough, nor is the plan to allow assets to be frozen prior to criminal proceedings.

“We are talking about major problems here with drugs and people trafficking cross border, and there is not always the evidence available to police forces for a criminal prosecution of the main culprit, while those working under them are prosecuted.

“The success of CAB in Ireland could be the model across the EU with similar agencies set up in each country that could then co-operate,” he said.

Drug gangs can put their money in property in Spain and in funds elsewhere in the EU and the Gardaí cannot get at it, he said.

“You need a Europe- wide model because you do not want an Irish gang boss sitting in another EU country directing crime in drugs — the situation can be very complex with connections in Holland and Spain — borders do not contain it and it is important that the EU has the maximum ability to deal with this.”

As in Ireland, there would have to be evidence of reasonable grounds for believing that assets are derived from criminal conduct, and the court must be satisfied about this.

Then the onus switches to the person that controls those assets to prove that they were amassed legally, otherwise the State is entitled to seize them.

They are retained, or the proceeds of their sale, is retained for seven years to give the person the maximum length of time to prove they are of legitimate origin — but so far in the hundreds of cases dealt with by CAB, this has not happened.

Mr Shatter said he has been speaking to justice ministers from the other member states, and providing them with detailed information on how CAB works in Ireland, and arguing that proposals from the European Commission do not go far enough.

“We need to get across the message that crime does not pay — that those that are living on the proceeds of crime in luxury anymore in Europe,” he said.

Bulgaria has introduced a similar system to Ireland and Slovenia is doing the same. There were a number of countries with concerns that the approach violated the human rights of individuals.

However, Mr Shatter said this had been tested in Ireland against the Constitution and provided the legislation was proportionate, and that goods were not seized arbitrarily, the process has proved to be legitimate.