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Office of Director of Public Prosecutions

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 January 2022

Wednesday, 19 January 2022

Questions (1283)

Darren O'Rourke

Question:

1283. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Justice the number of persons successful prosecuted under section 7 of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 in 2019, 2020 and 2021, in tabular form. [1911/22]

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Written answers

As the Deputy may be aware, under the provisions of the Courts Service Act 1998, management of the courts is the responsibility of the Courts Service, which is independent in exercising its functions. This includes the compilation of information relating to convictions.

However, in order to assist the Deputy, I have sought information from the Courts Service. 

The following figures in relation to the number of offences and number of persons convicted under the relevant section of the Act in the District Court have been provided. I am advised that it is important to note that a person may be convicted on more than one offence.  

Table 1. Number of offences and number of persons convicted in the District Court

 

Jan - Dec 2019

 

Jan  - Dec 2020

 

Jan - Dec 2021 

 

Section 

 

No of Offences where convictions were recorded

No of persons convicted 

No of Offences where convictions were recorded

No of persons convicted 

No of Offences where convictions were recorded

No of persons convicted 

section 7(1)(a)(i), 7(1)(b) & 7(3) of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing) Act 2010

 

 

1

1

1

1

section 7(1)(a)(ii), 7(1)(b) & 7(3) of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing) Act 2010

7

6

5

5

18

15

Total 

7

6

6

6

19

16

In terms of the offences sent forward for trial to the Circuit Court, I am informed that at this time, the system in use by the Courts Service in the Circuit Courts cannot produce reports for specific offences and the reports which are available are by offence category rather than for individual offences. Categories of offences can contain multiple offences. Table 2 provides the Circuit Court  information that is available.  

Table 2: No of offences and no of persons sent forward for trial to the Circuit Court

 

Jan – Dec 2019

 

Jan – Dec 2020

 

Jan – Dec 2021

 

Section

No of Offences sent forward for Trial

No of Persons sent forward for Trial

No of Offences sent forward for Trial

No of Persons sent forward for Trial

No of Offences sent forward for Trial

No of Persons sent forward for Trial

Section 7(1)(a)(i), 7(1)(b) & 7(3) of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing) Act 2010

12

9

37

16

35

27

Section 7(1)(a)(ii), 7(1)(b) & 7(3) of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing) Act 2010

199

70

304

107

629

288

Section 7(1)(a)(iii), 7(b) & 7(3) of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing) Act 2010

2

1

38

2

2

2

Total 

213

80

379

125

666

317

The Deputy should also note that the Courts can only provide data in relation to where offence codes provided on the system were used by prosecutors. In relation to prosecutions under Section 7 of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010, prosecutors may have used uncoded free text offences and any such offences, which do not appear in searches for prosecutions by the Courts Service. 

Finally, I wish to assure the Deputy that Ireland has a robust Anti-Money Laundering/ Countering the Financing of Terrorism framework. Ireland’s anti-money laundering framework was assessed by the global standard-setter, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Ireland was found to have “a generally sound legislative and institutional AML/CFT framework”.

The Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Act 2021 strengthens existing anti-money laundering legislation and gives effect to provisions of the Fifth EU Money Laundering Directive.  

In line with international standards adopted by the FATF, and the EU's legislative framework, Ireland has developed a solid regulatory framework for preventing money laundering. This Act strengthens existing anti-money laundering legislation and contains a renewed focus on gatekeepers of financial systems. It ensures that there is increasing transparency by bringing further institutions within the scope of the Irish anti-money laundering regulatory framework and by combatting the use of new trends and technologies employed by criminals. It also ensures that our regulatory framework keeps pace with the increasing integration of financial flows in the internal market, the evolving trends, technological developments and the prevention of organised crime. 

Question No. 1284 answered with Question No. 1206.
Question No. 1285 answered with Question No. 1179.
Question No. 1286 answered with Question No. 1256.
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