Criminal Assets Bureau cases bring in almost €4m for State

Almost €4 million was realised by the State last year following the conclusion of a range of cases by the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab).

The money, whose total value was €3.8 million, included €1.6 million taken in cases under proceeds of crime legislation designed to seize the wealth of those engaged in crime.

Slightly more than €2 million was collected from criminals in taxes on undeclared and illegal income and a further €185,000 was recovered by collecting social welfare overpayments.

According to the Cab's annual report for 2015, which has been published by Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald, one of the cases was against Mohammed Sani Abacha, the son of Gen Sani Abacha, the late dictator of Nigeria who came to power in a coup in 1993.

The Cab report said it had progressed the Irish element of an international operation to retrieve money “looted” from Nigeria during his period in power.

The Cab targeted 30 life assurance policies in by HSBC Life Europe which by the end of last year had been frozen and remain so as the case continues to progress.

Court hearings

Mr Sani Abacha did not attend court hearings in

Ireland

but the Cab said it had tried to ensure that all of the paperwork was served on him in Nigeria.

"This service was greatly hampered by the outbreak of both the Ebola virus and the violence of the Boko Haram in Kano Province in Nigeria," it said.

In other cases, Irish criminal Paschal Kelly (50), Cormeen, Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan, was jailed for tax evasions and threatening to kill a Cab officer and is currently serving 2½ years.

The former Provisional IRA chief of staff Thomas “Slab” Murphy was convicted last year of failing to make tax returns. The Cab is still pursuing him for €5 million arising from his conviction, which enabled the bureau to legally establish him as a chargeable entity for tax purposes.

In total, the bureau brought 13 new sets of proceedings last year before the High Court. When the Criminal Assets Bureau was established in 1996, it was intended that all cases would be concluded within seven years, though appeals have extended some cases.

Fraudulent payments

As well as the new proceedings commenced in the High Court, taxes and interest to the value of €6.6 million were demanded, while social welfare payment savings, as a result of fraudulent payments being stopped, reached €483,000.

At the end of last year there were 185 Garda “asset profilers” operating in the State. These are Garda members who gather intelligence and supply it to the Cab in Dublin about suspects’ lifestyles that appear to be beyond their legitimate means.

There were also 15 Revenue/Customs asset profilers and three profilers attached to the Department of Social Welfare.

There are 37 Garda members working for the bureau full-time as well as six staff from the Department of Social Protection, 16 from the Department of Justice and 12 from Revenue.