The Garda's Criminal Assets Bureau has forced one of the State's major animal-feed suppliers into a tax settlement of £4 million following a two-year inquiry into the sale of illegal growth-promoters.
Mr Eamon Galavan, who runs a major animal-feed supply company in Co Wexford, agreed the payment in the past week.
It is understood Mr Galavan has made an interim payment to the Revenue Commissioners of £3 million. With the payment of a further £1 million, he will have discharged his liability to the State.
The settlement is the largest yet imposed by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), which was set up in the aftermath of the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin.
The investigation which led to the settlement began two years ago when CAB detectives began examining bank accounts belonging to figures suspected of providing illegal growth-promoters for cattle.
Most of the accounts examined were in the Border area. One account examined by CAB at a bank in Dundalk showed that £7 million in cash had passed through it in six months.
Detectives followed a money trail that took them to banks in a number of European countries, Australia, New Zealand and finally to Laredo, Texas, in the US.
The FBI assisted CAB in examining accounts in a Laredo bank, and it is understood these led to Galavan Supplements, a factory at Bree in Co Wexford.
It is understood that Galavan Supplements is, commercially, a highly successful company although it operates out of a modest industrial unit. The company had a "secret formula" for feed and sold very large amounts of it to the cattle market.
Growth-promoters, mainly steroids, add bulk to cattle tissue, increasing the weight and value of animals. They are very widely used in beef production, according to Garda sources.
Mr Galavan was arrested under suspicion of money-laundering on October 4th and taken to Enniscorthy Garda station.
In the past two weeks terms were agreed with the Revenue Commissioners for the payment of £4 million.
The Irish Times attempted to contact Mr Galavan yesterday but was unable to get a reply.
There was no comment on the case from CAB. The head of the bureau, Chief Supt Felix McKenna, said he could not comment on individual cases.
However, he said that since the bureau was created it had brought about settlements with the Revenue of £7 million and had seized frozen assets worth £11 million.
It is understood the CAB investigation into illegal growth-promoters is likely to lead to further major tax demands. The trade has a multi-million-pound annual turnover in this State.
A separate Criminal Assets Bureau investigation into moneylaundering in the Border area is said to be examining money movements worth more than £100 million.