Written Answers. - Proceeds of Crime.
Ivor Callely
Question:
33
Mr. Callely
asked the
Minister for Finance
the inroads which the Revenue authorities have made into the resources and funds of the crime and drug barons; whether he considers it necessary to bring forward proposals to amend the legislation in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[16655/96]
As the Deputy will know the package of measures announced by the Government on 25 July included measures geared specifically at targeting the proceeds of crime. In particular, the Government announced the setting up of the Criminal Assets Bureau in order to bring together in a more structured way the resoures and expertise of the various agencies, includiing the Garda, the Revenue authorities and the Department of Social Welfare, involved in this difficult area. There had been no lack of commitment in the past but the difficulties which have arisen from different agencies tackling the problem within their own functional areas had been recognised. A concerted effort is required.
The bureau initially began operating on a nonstatutory basis in August last and the necessary legislation to provide a statutory basis for its operations was enacted on 11 October 1996 following detailed examination as it passed through the Oireachtas.
Pending the enactment of the legisation, the Minister for Justice on 30 July announced the appointment of a Garda chief superintendent to head the bureau and the appointment of a legal officer. Staff from the various agencies including Revenue have been assigned to it. Consequently, the bureau has been operational for some months and is, I understand, active in pursuit of the assets of suspected criminals. The objectives of the bureau are to identify the assets of persons which derive or are suspected to derive, directly or indirectly, from criminal activity; to take whatever action is necessary under the law to deprive criminals or suspected criminals of their assets or to deny them in whole or in part, the benefit of those assets. This includes taxation of income and gains in appropriate cases; and to carry out investigations and the preparatory work of legal proceedings in pursuit of the above objectives.
The bureau has been making good progress since it was set up and I am confident that it will be an effective instrument for tackling this problem.
The Revenue Commissioners are co-operating fully with these measures. The Revenue officials serving in the bureau bring to it all the relevant powers available under tax legislation.
In addition to the setting up of the bureau, two further pieces of legislation, the Disclosure of Certain Information for Taxation and Other Purposes Act, 1996, and the Proceeds of Crime Act, 1996, were passed by the Oireachtas on the 25 and 26 July. The Disclosure Act now gives a statutory basis on which Revenue can provide information to the Garda where it is suspected that a person has profited from crime. The Proceeds of Crime Act, 1996, provides for the confiscation of property which constitutes directly, or indirectly, the proceeds of crime.
Prior to the setting up of the bureau, the Revenue Commissioners had been active in targeting certain persons suspected of profiteering from crime. The Revenue Commissioners cannot comment on individual cases but I am advised by them that in a number of cases, assessments under section 19 of the Finance Act, 1983 had been raised and, in other cases, certain other activities preparatory to raising such assessments had been taken. These latter cases have now been passed to the Criminal Assets Bureau.
I am confident that the new legislation, together with the other measures already in place, will deliver a coherent and focused response against organised crime.
