Criminals cough up more than €16m in taxes
Criminals paid out more than €16m in tax last year following probes by the Criminal Assets Bureau, it emerged tonight.
The ninth annual report from the CAB revealed fraud squad officers had one of their most successful years freezing assets worth €1.68m.
The report revealed 80% of High Court orders it secured to transfer assets already frozen were directly related to drug trafficking.
Some 37 orders were made by the courts handling assets worth €5m in 2004. The High Court granted interim orders to CAB worth €1m, compared with €3m in 2003, barring any dealing on assets deemed to be the profit of crime.
Justice minister Michael McDowell commended the CAB’s work alongside overseas forces in attempting to smash international crime gangs.
“The annual report for 2004 highlights the continued successes of the Bureau in the fight against drug trafficking, fraud, corruption and other criminal activity,” the minister said.
“I commend the bureau on its achievements during 2004 and, in particular, its work with the Assets Recovery Agency in Belfast and London and with similar agencies elsewhere in identifying and targeting the proceeds of criminal activity.”
The €16.4m of taxes and interest collected included income tax, corporation tax, capital gains tax, VAT and PAYE/PRSI. Social welfare savings by CAB more than doubled last year to €222,000 from €109,000 in 2003.
Mr McDowell said: “The Bureau will continue, with the full support of the Government, together with the support of the general public and commercial and financial institutions, to prevent those involved in serious crime from enjoying the proceeds of their illegal activity.”
The CAB also noted receivers in the bureau disposed of money and a number of cars totalling €2.25m, years after they had been frozen.
Some €275,000 was transferred to the Minister for Finance to the Central Fund under disposal orders.
CAB seizes control of assets and disposes of them under the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996.
Under this provision the bureau obtains a High Court order freezing cash in accounts or barring the sale of assets belonging to people which it claims are, or were, engaged in profit making crime.
After a seven-year period expires, any cash frozen is given to the State, and the proceeds of any assets frozen and sold can be passed to the State.
Many of the disposals and transfers now under way relate to the very first actions by CAB against some of the country’s most infamous crime bosses. Most of the actions in the 2004 relate to CAB seizures made in 1997.
CAB often serves tax demands against those who, while not convicted of any crime, find themselves unable to explain where they got their money.
The report revealed it cost a total of €5.675m to run the 50-strong bureau which included gardai, legal experts, revenue staff and social welfare officers.
