After five years of legal action a former Dublin lord mayor and junior Fine Gael minister, Mr Michael Keating, has agreed a tax settlement with the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), understood to be about €250,000.
Mr Keating, who at one point was found to be carrying drafts made out to a Dublin criminal, George "The Penguin" Mitchell, sold his family house in Castleknock, Dublin, to make the payment. He now lives in a more modest house in Malahide, Co Dublin.
He had been under investigation since 1997 along with another man, Mr Peter Bolger. The two set up a number of businesses they said were involved in beef trading.
During one of the early court hearings, in which Mr Bolger and Mr Keating attempted to defy attempts to seize their assets and force them to pay tax, the CAB produced evidence of bank drafts made out on Mitchell's behalf, each for £48,000 (€61,000).
Mitchell was, at one stage, the largest supplier of drugs in Dublin. He is still at large, operating from a house in the suburbs of Amsterdam. Last year gunmen shot dead his daughter's partner, Derek Dunne, in a drug-related attack on his home.
It is known that Mitchell made millions from importing drugs, mainly ecstasy, cannabis, heroin and cocaine, into the Republic. During their investigations into Mr Keating's and Mr Bolger's connections with Mitchell, the CAB seized £300,000 (€380,000) in cash.
Along with the tax payment made by Mr Keating and the money, the CAB is also understood to have seized property and money from Mr Bolger to the value of around €100,000. The CAB seized a Mercedes car which Mr Bolger denied owning, but no one else ever came forward to claim ownership.
Mr Keating consistently denied he was involved in any illegal activities.
During one of his court appeals he gave evidence that one of his alleged exporting businesses received support from the then minister for agriculture, Mr Ivan Yates. Mr Yates admitted having signed a letter of commendation for Mr Keating's partner, Mr Bolger, saying he was unaware Mr Bolger had been convicted of fraud in Britain.
Mr Yates said he signed the letter, similar to "dozens" he signed during his term of office, after checking only his own Department's records.
Mr Bolger and Mr Keating were arrested by the Criminal Assets Bureau during investigations into their activities centred on a company called Eringold. The CAB insisted the company was a front for laundering drug profits.
Like Mr Keating, Mr Bolger claimed that CAB members were conducting a campaign of vilification against him. Prolonged legal proceedings by Mr Keating and Mr Bolger were ultimately unsuccessful, and both finally had to make settlements.
The CAB arrested Mr Bolger in September 1998 when he arrived off a flight from Brussels. Officers arrested him at Dublin Airport under the Drug Trafficking Act.
In affidavits, CAB members, who by law must remain anonymous, "emphatically rejected" Mr Bolger's claims of wrongdoing, assault or verbal abuse of him while under arrest. They stated that on four occasions he received visits from his solicitor and on release, when asked, said he had no complaints.
In June 2000 Mr Bolger, of Templeogue, Co Dublin, successfully argued against his extradition to Britain when warrants for his return, issued in 1996, were found by Dublin District Court to be legally invalid. The warrants did not specify the location of the offence of which Mr Bolger was convicted (in his absence), and alleged he was unlawfully at large from Brixton Prison.