Latest news with #CAB
Sunday World
3 days ago
- Sunday World
Son of slain mob boss Kieran Keane Snr forges ties with some of country's most notorious gangsters
CAB case hears of close ties between notorious gangs as slain mob boss's son follows in dad's footsteps The son of slain mob boss Kieran Keane Snr has forged ties with some of the country's most infamous gangsters and was recorded visiting heroin dealer Greg Lynch in Dublin, CAB have claimed. Alongside his uncle Christy Keane and cousin Owen Treacy Jnr, Kieran Keane Jnr is one of the leaders of the notorious gang which has dominated Limerick's underworld for decades. According to documents filed in the High Court, the forging of links with other criminal networks has been vital to their success, with Dublin mob bosses meeting with Keane Jnr on numerous occasions. Kieran Keane Jnr connected with violent Finglas-based gangster David 'Sos' Mulvey, meeting him several times in the capital as well as flying to the United States with him. He was spotted in conversation with the Dubliner outside his home at Berryfield Drive on the city's northside in 2015 and 2016. Christy Keane Owen Treacy Jnr At this time, Keane Jnr had also become close to Belfast hard-man Gerard Mackin, and the pair's respective partners had also become friendly. The Limerick gang boss and his cousin Richard Treacy were also seen outside the home of Greg Lynch's partner in Dublin in December 2016. Lynch, who had once been part of the Kinahan network, is regarded as a major gangland player and is involved in serious crime. He survived being shot in the face in a 2013 hit ordered by a senior cartel member in a Kinahan 'black-ops' attack that was blamed on another gangster. After discovering the truth, Lynch cut his links with the Cartel but has remained in the business. His network is believed to have been one of those targeted by a series of raids as a result of the Ghost-encrypted network being hacked by police. Details of Kieran Keane Jnr's links to Dublin mobsters emerged in the affidavit evidence against him in a Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) case heard last week. Kieran Keane Gerard Mackin Three houses, three cars and €101,000 in a bank account were all declared the proceeds of crime after Judge Alexander Owens accepted the evidence of Keane's criminality. Despite a lack of legitimate income, Keane Jnr enjoyed plenty of foreign travel, including a trip to the United Sates. In July 2016, he boarded a flight with Mulvey and his friend Gerard Hogg from Finglas who, it was stated, was 'heavily involved in organised crime'. Kieran Keane Jr and his father Kieran Keane Sr Today's News in 90 Seconds - June 30th His uncle Christy Keane had also forged links with Finglas mobsters years ago while serving time in Portlaoise Prison. He became friends with John Daly, despite the age gap between the two men, with his son Liam Keane being spotted in Finglas. Daly was murdered on the orders of Eamon 'The Don' Dunne shortly after he was released from prison on October 22, 2007, as he sat in a taxi in Finglas. Keane Jnr also went on a family holiday to Dubai with his partner Laura Flanagan and Gerard Mackin and his partner for a week in March 2019. Greg Lynch David 'Sos' Mulvey A photograph of the holidaymakers together was found on a phone seized from Mackin. Mackin, as the Sunday World previously reported, has served prison time for using a nail gun to nail a man's foot to a floor in Limerick. He is described as having been an enforcer for the Keane gang and more recently was jailed for money laundering when caught with €7,000 in the city. Last week, it was heard that Keane Jnr is living in Dubai and Ms Flanagan appears to be 'a lone parent'. Keane Jnr had left Ireland for Spain after the searches in 2020 but returned in September 2021 to be interviewed and was arrested for questioning over money-laundering. Over the course of 11 Garda interviews he made few responses to questions from investigating officers. He later returned to Alicante, where gardaí confirmed he was living in an apartment block, while it was heard last week in court that he now resides in Dubai. Ms Flanagan, who has no criminal convictions, was also arrested in November 2021 and in her interviews she mostly responded 'no comment'. In his evidence, CAB's chief officer, Michael Gubbins, said the couple have 'accumulated a significant amount of wealth which has come from unknown sources'. Keane's father Kieran Keane Snr was murdered by the Dundon-McCarthy gang in 2003 in an infamous incident. While a receiver has been appointed to two of the houses targeted by CAB, Judge Owens held back on doing so for a house at Claughaun Avenue, Limerick, where Ms Flanagan lives with three children. A hearing on the issue will be heard later and the case is expected to be mentioned in court again next month.
Sunday World
4 days ago
- Sunday World
Hutch mobster James ‘Mago' Gately tells court he and partner have broken up as he admits ripping out stairs
Gately said he split with partner who had left the house before it was damaged The pair – who have been in a long running battle with the Criminal Assets Bureau over their former home in Coolock – looked like they didn't have a care in the world as they left the High Court this week. Charlene had reason to smile following the court hearing as the judge ruled she will still receive €11,000 from the sale of the home by CAB despite officers finding extensive damage had been done to the property when they entered it. Gately, who admitted ripping out the stairs at his former home, said his relationship with Charlene had come to an end and that he was living alone at the house on Glin Drive when he stripped it in February this year. James 'Mago' Gately and Charlene Lam leave the High Court this week The bureau said it will cost €95,000 to repair the damage done to the property which included the staircase being taken out, along with internal doors, architraves, the entire kitchen and other fitting. The couple turned up together at the High Court this week after CAB brought an application over a breach of the court's orders. The court had ordered the property to be handed over to CAB by April 1 this year. It was previously heard that €440,000 had been spent on renovating the house, which had been bought for €125,000. The court had also ordered that €11,000 from the sale of the house be returned to Ms Lam, who had made mortgage payments from legitimate income. The pair were engrossed in their phones outside the court This week, Judge Alexander Owens said that interest on the unpaid mortgage is building up and the house should be sold as soon as possible. After that the sale was completed, he said it should be assessed to see what damage had been done to the value of the house, and that he would deal with it then. Judge Owens said he accepted Ms Lam had left the property before it was damaged and that she should still receive her share from the sale of the property. In affidavit evidence this week, Gately was 'putting his hands up' to the fact that he removed the material from the house, which he said he sold to members of the public for a total of €5,000. James 'Mago' Gately and Charlene Lam leave the High Court this week News in 90 Seconds - June 29th CAB said it wasn't credible that Gately thought he was entitled to do what he did to the house after it was declared the proceeds of crime. The Hutch mobster said he hadn't taken legal advice, but in hindsight should have and 'it would have been better if I had done so'. He said he had organised an electrician, brought out all the rubbish and left the keys for CAB officers to gain access to the property, and asked the judge to be as lenient as possible. CAB officers at the house in Coolock which was renovated to the tune of €440k It was put to the court that Gately should pay between €5,000 and €95,000. Counsel for CAB said it was very important that there is compliance with such court orders and there has to be 'a deterrent element' to this. Counsel for Gately said the court knows he is a person of limited means and that the loss of value should be calculated after the property has been sold. Judge Owens said that there was insufficient proof that there had been contempt of court but the actions had the effect of reducing the value of the house. In the CAB case against him, in which a car and a Rolex watch were also declared the proceeds of crime, Gately was described as a senior figure in the Hutch Organised Crime Group. He cut ties with the Kinahans following the 2015 murder of his friend Gary Hutch by the cartel in Spain, and helped carry his coffin at the funeral. The Kinahan mob launched two bids to kill Gately in 2017. Cartel lieutenant Sean McGovern, who was extradited from Dubai, is facing two charges over one plot to kill Gately. Gunmen pose as gardai at the Regency Hotel in 2016 . McGovern is charged with both directing a crime gang to carry out surveillance on Gately and facilitating a criminal organisation between October 17 2015 and April 6, 2017. Evidence from CAB has linked Gately to three murders, two of which were in 2010 when he was just 24 years old. He was arrested and questioned over the killing of convicted criminal Aidan Byrne in Dublin, a killing for which Jonathan 'Yuka' Douglas has been convicted and sentenced to life. Gately was also linked by CAB to the killing of infamous gangland figure Eamon 'The Don' Dunne at a pub in Cabra in April 2010. The third murder was that of David Byrne in the attack on the Regency Hotel, which was organised by the Hutch gang. During the CAB case Gately and Lam were allowed free legal aid despite CAB contesting the couple had gone on luxury cruises and enjoyed 'eye-watering' foreign travel. Judge Owens said in his 2022 ruling that while there was evidence of spending in the past, he said, 'things were beginning to dry up of late.'
The Herald Scotland
5 days ago
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Shame on the firms which are taking money away from the disabled
Yet if the prospect of future cuts to essential support isn't concerning enough, private commercial firms too are taking money away from disabled people. And this is happening right now, in plain sight. In recent months, we have identified instances of private firms offering a "no win, no fee" service to access social security payments. Commercialising a service that people may not always know is freely available. Most recently, we've seen examples of this for Adult Disability Payment (ADP) – which replaces the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for working-age adults in Scotland. Some of the activity is happening through sophisticated, targeted social media marketing. People are being charged up to £400 plus VAT per successful application, with as much as a 10% deduction from their ongoing monthly payments. Over the course of a multi-year award, this could earn the private firm thousands of pounds – clearly a lucrative if thoroughly unethical approach. For us, this is a pernicious practice – profiteering from people who need support most. It is the very worst kind of innovation and opportunism, clearly undermining the policy intent of these payments to provide vital financial support to those who need it most. Expert, impartial, and confidential advice should be free of charge to everyone who needs it in Scotland. And that is what we in the CAB network provide. If the advice sector was the health service, we would be accident and emergency. Because while our advice and information is for everyone – somewhat naturally demand is greatest where need and crisis is most acute and urgent. Like no one else, the Citizens Advice network supports people who are experiencing most harm. And so people are presenting with ever-more challenging circumstances, usually at a point of crisis where they have nowhere left to turn. Our essential frontline service provides a lifeline to over 190,000 people in Scotland every year. We are so very often the last door open for people who are out of options and facing unimaginable difficulty – frequently acting as a backstop for failure everywhere else, from social security to energy markets. We know ours is advice that changes lives because people tell us that. During the first three months of this year alone, our advisers secured ADP Daily Living entitlements worth £6,659,046, mostly upon initial application. In simple terms, what does that mean? Well, it means securing the right outcome, first time-round for people who then get the essential support they need. As we wrote here last week, day-to-day, essential living already costs more when you have less. It shouldn't cost you anything to access that kind of expert advice. David Hilferty is Director of Impact at Citizens Advice Scotland
Time of India
23-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Eden Gardens isn't public place, CAB not liable to pay ad tax to KMC: HC
1 2 Kolkata: Eden Gardens cannot be considered a public place, Calcutta High Court has ruled, upholding a single judge's order that Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) is not liable to pay advertisement tax of over Rs 51 lakh to Kolkata Municipal Corporation for advertisements put up inside the stadium during the 1996 World Cup. "It is not the dimension of a place or the number of people that visit a particular place that would determine the nature of a place as 'private or public'. The only criterion must be whether or not members of public have an unrestricted right of access to that place. Applying this test, Eden Gardens Stadium cannot be held to be a public place," a division bench of justices Arijit Banerjee and Kausik Chanda held in the June 19 order. Dwelling on what constitutes a public place — KMC Act does not have a definition for it — the bench clarified that it meant any place that was open to people. "Any member of the public must have access to that place without any restriction. Nobody's permission should be required for visiting such a place… For example, the Maidan in Kolkata is undisputedly a public place. The riverside is also a public place. Any member of the public has absolute, unconditional, and unrestricted access to such places at any time," the bench explained. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Dermatologist: Just Add 1 Drop Of This Household Item To Any Dark Spot And Wait 3 Minutes Undo Eden Gardens had hosted the 1996 World Cup inaugural match and a semi-final on Feb 11 and March 13. KMC had issued a demand note to CAB for Rs 51,18,450 as tax on ads put up inside and outside the stadium. CAB moved HC and won the case in 2015, but KMC challenged the single judge order. The division bench, however, was not keen on interfering with the single-bench order. It was not happy with the two days' notice given to CAB to reply to the demand note and reprimanded KMC for initiating criminal proceedings without giving CAB a hearing. The bench also noted that the notice sent by KMC did not have a bill breakdown. It also considered Article 285 of the Constitution that exempts Union property from state taxation — CAB enjoys a lease of the Eden Gardens ground, which is owned by the defence ministry. The division bench held, "CAB is the lessee of the property where the stadium is situated… Take, for example, that a rich person owns a private stadium which can accommodate 200,000 people. He organises sports activities in the stadium and sells tickets which interested spectators can purchase for watching the activities inside the stadium. On a particular day, games are played before a packed stadium. Hoardings are put up by brand owners inside the stadium which are visible only to people who are inside the stadium. Would KMC be entitled to impose advertisement tax in respect of the same? We think not. Although 200,000 spectators may be viewing the advertisements, the private stadium is not a public place. The owner of the stadium will be entitled to deny entry to an interested person even if he offers to pay for a ticket."
The Herald Scotland
21-06-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
The poverty premium: why do we tolerate harm?
For those who work in a frontline service like the Citizens Advice network, this isn't an abstract idea simply referenced in academic papers; it's reality. I grew up in extreme poverty so I understand it only too well. It's the reason why I got into money advice as a career and why I'm so passionate about it. CAB advisers see the poverty premium every day in the faces of the people who come to them for help. More often than not, these people are desperate, usually at a point of crisis where they have nowhere left to turn. I recently heard about a woman who came to her local CAB in distress after falling into rent arrears and facing eviction – a result of a series of failures by systems that are meant to help her. It was a snowball effect. She experienced earnings arrestment for council tax, her Universal Credit was cut, and she was using her credit card to just stay afloat. This is just one of thousands of examples where CABs across Scotland are acting as a backstop for systemic failure across the economy. For a start there's the credit market. People on low incomes often don't qualify for low-interest financial products so are forced to use the more expensive high-interest options. Then there's the banking system. As banks continue to move away from our high streets, anyone who doesn't live near a branch and isn't tech savvy will have to travel to access basic services. If they're lucky, there might be an ATM in their local area, but they might then face a £2 charge to simply access their money. And then there's the energy market, where people experiencing poverty or are on lower incomes often pay more for their energy due to the low energy efficiency of their home. Many also pay when bills arrive rather than by direct debit (see above) which can result in a premium of £130 more per year. This is how the cumulative effect builds up. Some estimates put the total poverty premium at an average of £500 per year. If you're struggling financially in Scotland today you get financially penalised for it. In other words, it costs more to have less. So why don't we explore solutions like more flexible banking and credit options or re-designing cash access infrastructure and actually help people who need support, not push more costs onto them? We've repeatedly called for a social tariff to be applied to all sectors, including the energy market, and for improvements in social security so that people have more money to begin with. These ideas are not rocket science. They're sensible, pragmatic and perfectly achievable, but only if ministers, regulators and institutions have the imagination and the will to achieve them. The poverty premium shames us, yet it could be eliminated. Are we willing to do that, or will we just keep tolerating harm? Sarah-Jayne Dunn is manager of the Financial Health team at Citizens Advice Scotland
