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Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Cab will be able to sell off crime proceeds within two years under new legislation
Currently criminals have a notice period of seven years from when an asset is deemed to be from the proceeds of crime until it is eventually disposed of by the State. This means criminals or their families can continue to live in the property, or rent it out to tenants, during that time. It also gives them a period of up to seven years during which to appeal against a decision. Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan will seek cabinet approval for the Proceeds of Crime Bill 2025, which has been many years in the making and involved consultation with Cab, examination by an Oireachtas committee last year, and advice from the Attorney General. The laws will also give greater powers to ensure that criminals can immediately be deprived of the use of their frozen property. According to a briefing note, the laws will ensure the 'immediate and automatic appointment of a receiver once a judicial determination has been made that assets are the proceeds of crime to ensure that respondents cannot continue to benefit from those assets pending a final disposal order being made'. The new legislation comes after Cab conducted an analysis of its cases and found that after two or three years, very little happens in relation to confiscation orders. Mr O'Callaghan will tell the Cabinet that organised crime is 'a significant threat nationally and internationally and preys on the most vulnerable in our communities'. He will say organised crime is 'driven by financial gain' and its estimated that criminal revenues amount to €110bn a year in the EU, and €1.7bn a year in Ireland. Mr O'Callaghan is also expected to say that the 'confiscation of criminal proceeds is an essential means of combating organised crime' as it deprives criminals of illicit profits and prevents them from further investing in criminal enterprises. Cab was established in Ireland in 1996 following the killing of the Sunday Independent journalist Veronica Guerin. It is a model that was followed in many other EU countries since then. In 2023, the latest year for which figures are available, it seized €9.8m in illicit gains.
Sunday World
14-06-2025
- Business
- Sunday World
Scam queen who laundered crime cash with husband loses another battle against CAB
Khan and her husband Khurram played a major role in a multi-million euro international fraud and used companies in Ireland to launder the criminal cash. SCAM queen Agne Khan has lost an appeal against a court ruling in a Criminal Assets Bureau case against her. Khan and her husband Khurram played a major role in a multi-million euro international fraud and used companies in Ireland to launder the criminal cash. A property in Tipperary owned by Nida Investments has already been ruled the proceeds of crime which Ms Khan had attempted to contest. However, she was told that she could not represent the registered company in court which can only be done by a solicitor, a decision which she appealed against. In judgement published this week the Court of Appeal upheld the ruling by judge Alex Owens which came after two different solicitors acting for the firm asked to come off record. One said the relationship of 'trust and confidence between myself and my clients has broken down irreparably.' Ms Khan did not appear in court when the appeal case was heard and was not in court when the High Court granted the orders sought by Cab in relation to Nida Investments earlier this year. The Sunday World previously reported how Agne Khan tried to claim investors in her firm who turned out to be 'dodgy' had put funds into her Irish car companies. Her firms Nida Investments and Autology Ltd were branded as being 'steeped in fraud' in the High Court where the Cab sought to take over the property at Ballywilliam. The garage forecourt in Co Tipperary was bought by one company and rent from it has been paid to a bank account now frozen by Cab. Khan and her husband Khurram Khan have been described as being at the heart of a €3.5 million international cybercrime fraud. Counsel for Cab said that in sworn evidence filed by Ms Khan she had claimed to be innocent and investors who channelled funds through her mother were scammers. Even though Ms Khan and her husband pleaded guilty to fraud offences in the UK and got prison sentences they continued to associate with these people, it was heard. Her affidavit didn't explain the source of the money used to buy the Tipperary property which is now used by a legitimate business. Judge Owens said the property bought for €66,000 was 'no doubt' the proceeds of crime and appointed a receiver to take over the property and the bank account into which rent had been paid. Another motor firm controlled by the Khans had been based at the same Co Tipperary premises but stop trading 2018 after a Revenue investigation. The Khans 'walked off' from that company, taking with them any cash in the firm and leaving behind an unpaid tax bill €623,000.
Sunday World
04-06-2025
- Business
- Sunday World
House tied to Kinahan-linked cartel growhouse operation sells for €51k
The remote Co Leitrim house was bought by Clondalkin taxi driver Niall Smith, who gardaí said operated grow houses all over the country for ten years. A property linked to a cannabis growing operation run by the Byrne Gang has been sold off at auction after being seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau. The remote Co Leitrim house, in a run-down state, was one of two bought in the county to be converted into a cannabis farm, according to Cab evidence. Four bidders battled it out for the bargain property which had a reserve price of €25,000 but sold for €51,000 last week. Clondalkin taxi driver Niall Smith, who gardaí said operated grow houses all over the country for ten years, had bought the house and sheds. Niall Smith They estimated he had spent €86,000 on renovating the property at Toomans earmarked by the Kinahan Cartel linked gang to grow cannabis. 'The remoteness of this location and the materials found when the property was searched support this conclusion,' it was stated in the High Court. The gang had planned to use the properties after gardaí discovered their grow-house in Wexford. Another house at Drumany was bought in 2011 for €15,000 by Smith but Cab estimated that €422,355 was spent on building a house on the site. That house, which had been refurbished to a high-standard, sold for €206,000 at auction in April. Two other houses seized by Cab were also auctioned off last week, one of which belonged to convicted armed robber Stefan Saunders. His five-bedroom house in Hazelbury Park in Clonee, was sold for €573,000, topping previous prices for houses in the estate, according to the Price Property Register. The home in Leitrim Saunders was one of the country's most prolific and dangerous armed robbers and was jailed for seven and a half years for an attempted ATM robbery in 2016. It was previously heard in the High Court that the couple bought the house in a spending spree after the €2.5m Brinks Allied security van robbery in Artane, Dublin, in 2005. Cab took possession of the property in Clonee in January after the couple exhausted all their legal appeals against the High Court ruling. Stefan Saunders claimed he worked as a plasterer while Tammy claimed she earned her income from an interior decorating business they owned. Cab also sold a house in Portlaoise, Co Laois last week that it had seized from Mary Cash who they alleged had acted as a getaway driver for a burglary gang. News in 90 June 4th The semi-detached four-bedroom bungalow with a large back garden at Harpur's Lane in Portlaoise sold for €91,000. Bought for €100,000 without a mortgage it was declared proceeds of crime in 2023 despite Ms Cash's claim she had made money in Australia working as an escort and a cleaner. During the case it was heard that new floors and a front door were installed along with a brand-new bathroom despite the couple's modest means. Cash is the wife of Andrew Cash, a member of a notorious burglary gang which carried out robberies all over the country along with her brother Henry Kiely, it was heard in the High Court. It emerged during the case there was a secret compartment in a bedroom where officers found £6,000 hidden in two socks during searches. In one search in 2020, images of Mary Cash leading 'a lavish lifestyle' were found on her mobile phone, including one taken while shopping at the up-market London store Harrods. A gold Cartier Santos Galbee watch worth €2,000, a Chanel N'Quartz watch worth €900 and two diamond bracelets worth €4,200 were also seized.
Sunday World
24-05-2025
- Sunday World
Woman whose luxury goods were declared proceeds of crime agrees to pay CAB legal bill
Yan Yan Fan whose collection of designer goods and cash were declared the proceeds of crime last year is to pay €45,000 in fees. A WOMAN who complained a Criminal Assest Bureau case made her more famous than The Monk has agreed to pay the legal costs of the court action. Yan Yan Fan whose collection of designer goods and cash were declared the proceeds of crime last year is to pay €45,000 in fees. The High Court heard this week the Chinese national had agreed to settle her long-running battle with the bureau. Ms Fan had 96 items seized from her apartment by Cab after a raid in 2021 during an investigation into a cannabis grow-house operation. Cab sought to have luxury goods, along with €229,000, declared the proceeds of crime. While 19 of those items were returned to along with €89,000 frozen in bank account she had appealed the finding against her. Judge Alex Owens accepted Yan-Yan Fan and a co-respondent, Guang Ying Wang (49) were working with a grow-house operation. Yan-Yan Fan News in 90 Seconds - May 24th 2025 At a High Court hearing last October, it was heard that Cab is also appealing the part of the ruling in which the judge directed cash be returned to Ms Fan's parents in China. Ms Fan, who represented herself in the proceedings, had maintained she was a lover of fashion and denied her treasured possessions were purchased with criminal cash. At one hearing she also complained to the High Court that she has been made 'famous even more than Gerry Hutch' because of the coverage surrounding her case. She maintained her innocence and asked the judge if he could make an order against journalists. The CAB investigation started in 2021 when Wang was arrested on March 19 and questioned about his suspected involvement in a grow-house in Phibblestown, Co Dublin, in which cannabis worth €400,000 had been discovered.
Irish Times
14-05-2025
- Irish Times
Five-bedroom home of notorious armed robber put up for sale by Cab
The house of an armed robber has been offered for sale by the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) despite the robbery gang leader having fought the case to the Supreme Court. The five-bedroom property, in Clonee on the Dublin-Meath boundary, is now on the market with an asking price of €345,000. Its former owner, Stefan Saunders (47), was jailed in 2018 for 7½ years after gardaí foiled a cash-in-transit armed robbery in 2016. Along with other gang members, he tried to steal more than €2 million from a cash-in-transit van. Saunders was also convicted of possession of a semi-automatic pistol. The property seized from him is 255sq m and is described by Wilsons Auctions as having an 'open-plan livingroom, diningroom and sunroom, kitchen, five bedrooms, master with en suite and walk-in wardrobe and main bathroom'. Saunders spent some €120,000 on extending the house, which included expensive sanitary ware, furnishings, projector screens and a Jacuzzi. The double-fronted semidetached house was taken possession of four months ago by Cab, after a protracted legal process, including Saunders attempting to bring the case for hearing before the Supreme Court. The house will be sold in an online public auction in two weeks. READ MORE In its case against Saunders in the High Court, Cab's evidence was that the Dubliner was also involved in the €1.8 million Brinks Allied security van robbery in Artane, Dublin in 2005. He was forensically linked to a vehicle used in a 'tiger kidnapping' of a cash transit firm employee. In October 2022, the High Court found the five-bed house at Hazelbury Park, Clonee, Dublin 15, was acquired and renovated with the proceeds of crime. The court also ruled the mortgage on the property, where Saunders lived with his wife, Tammy, was paid with such funds until they fell into arrears in 2010. Mr Justice Alexander Owens also ruled that a rental property the couple sold, businesses and expensive cars were funded in the same way. A valuer noted the Hazelbury Park home, which was purchased in 2005 for €360,000 with a 90 per cent mortgage, was refurbished to the 'highest standard' in 2007. The couple denied the assets derived from the proceeds of crime and claimed the funds came from valid employment, gifts and savings. Ruling in the Cab's case brought under the 1996 Proceeds of Crime Act, the judge said he was satisfied he was a member of a 'gang of robbers' who funded a 'spending spree' on these assets by Saunders and his wife between 2005 and 2008. Saunders also had a second buy-to-rent property at Mayeston Lawn, Finglas. [ Robbery gang member fails to convince Supreme Court to hear appeal over order on home Opens in new window ] The court ruled the proceeds of crime was used to fund a number of businesses and to buy expensive cars, including a €98,000 BMW X5. The judge said 'money from unidentified sources' was used to provide working capital for the interior decoration business Tammy Saunders worked in, U Design of Berkeley Road, Dublin, which was established in June 2005. Money from unidentified sources was used to open and operate hair salons in Berkeley Road and in Meakstown, near Finglas, he said. Cash from unidentified sources was used to renovate a house owned by Saunders's mother-in-law and her partner in 2006. The source of €17,500 bail money which his mother-in-law put up in November 2006 for Stefan Saunders, who was before the courts on a drugs charge which was later dropped, was also unidentified.
