A variety of applications seeking to enforce the different remedies available under the Proceeds of Crime Act, 1996, have been made by the Criminal Assets Bureau to the High Court. The Bureau has obtained interim and interlocutory orders under sections 2 and 3 of the Proceeds of Crime Act, 1996, in two cases involving five persons.
The Bureau has also obtained interim orders under section 2 of the Proceeds of Crime Act, 1996, in two cases involving three persons and applications for interlocutory orders are pending. As the Proceeds of Crime Act, 1996, provides for disposal orders only after a period of seven years has elapsed, no funds have as yet been realised for the Exchequer. As all the applications and hearings to date have been held in camera, it would be inappropriate to publish any further particulars of these cases. Other cases being investigated by the Bureau may lead to further court applications.
Applications have also been made by the Director of Public Prosecutions to restrain assets under the Criminal Justice Act, 1994, in four cases involving a total of seven persons. The value of the cash assets involved was approximately £168,000, being cash and money held in accounts maintained at financial institutions. In addition, two applications made by the Director of Public Prosecutions under section 38 of the 1994 Act in relation to five persons resulted in the detention of cash assets of approximately £30,000. The value of other realisable assets which were subject to restraint orders in these cases is not readily available.
The Disclosure of Certain Information for Taxation and Other Purposes Act, 1996, introduced by my colleague, the Minister for Finance, provides a structure for the more effective exchange of information between the Revenue Commissioners and the Garda on an ongoing basis. I have been advised there has been regular exchange of information which has been of assistance to the Bureau in their ongoing investigations into the assets of criminals.