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THE CRIMINAL ASSETS Bureau has now seized more than €133million of illicit profits from criminal activity since its foundation in 1996, according to its latest figures.
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has said that the Bureau’s methods – which involve confiscating the proceeds of crime, rather than chasing convictions – are so successful that he is working to establish a Europe-wide system along the same lines.
Last year the CAB handed €3.1million to the Exchequer which it had obtained in court proceedings under Proceeds of Crime laws. It also collected more than €4million in taxes using Revenue legislation.
Its latest annual report reveals that the Bureau also recovered just over €180,000 from social welfare overpayments, with the majority coming from jobseeker’s allowance and one parent family payments.
The Bureau took action against 85 people over social welfare payments, resulting in a number of benefits being stopped. The CAB said this delivered €630,000 in savings to the Department of Social Protection – with more than one-third of the savings in the single parent family payments.
Carer’s allowance was also a significant contributor, with savings totalling €182,000. This was much greater than the amount saved by stopping jobseeker’s benefit payments, which was less than €70,000.
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter welcomed the report, saying it “once again highlights the success of the Bureau in targeting the proceeds of criminal activity.”
He said the bureau “has gained much recognition, not only within the State, but also on the international stage”, adding:
I am therefore pursuing an initiative at European level to establish a European wide non-conviction based confiscation regime similar to that of the Criminal Assets Bureau. I believe such a measure will add real value to European cooperation in targeting the proceeds of crime
The Criminal Assets Bureau had a budget of €6.5million in 2010, with more than €5million of that spent on payroll costs.
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We should dispatch a Minister next year to Pyongyang for Paddys’s day. Maybe all of them! :)
Both countries run by lunatics !
Really good report. Very few people would have expected a connection with Ireland.
There’s always connections between countries FFS
I was in Pyongyang for a week back in September and our young “minder” didn’t even know where Ireland was so don’t assume the average joe gets to read those reports on the press site. There is no Internet but there is a special intranet which the students in the library can use to look up stuff about the “imperialist” USA. Have to say it was a bizarre week!
Don’t forget, plenty of members of the Workers’ Party, which had links to the USSR, are now high-profile members of the Labour Party.
de Rossa’s letter looking for £1 million is a good example:
http://irishelectionliterature.wordpress.com/2010/07/08/1986-letter-from-the-workers-party-to-the-communist-party-of-the-soviet-union-cpsu-looking-for-funds/
Sssush Ciaran .. some people don’t want to mention these things anymore :-/
Do ‘special activities’ include oifig an phoist and men in balaclava’s or a sponsored silence or what?
Reply from the CPSU your request for 1 million has been granted!!! “Will denomination’s of $100.00 dollar bills be OK ? See you in North Korea …have an empty suit case handy….good luck getting all those Worker Party , Democratic Left now Labour leaders & TD’s elected..see you at the next Lost Revolution Conference!!!!
Wonder what Michael D thought of getting congratulated by Kim Jong
In the 2009 St Patrick’s day greeting, Mr Kim (or his press secretary) seems to be under the impression that the former President was male: “Kim … wished the President … success in his work for the prosperity of Ireland.”
By 2010, the confusion seems to have mounted as Mr Kim opted not to identify Comrade MacAleese with any gender: “… the message wished the Irish President success …”
Great article. Having some diplomatic ties or exchanges between ourselves and countries like DPRK is certainly not something to be embarrassed about. You can’t moan about the insular and secretive nature of such states and in the same vein decry the fact that some degree of civility exists between the two, regardless of politics.
It is better to take many small steps in the right direction.. and all that
He’s no more a lunatic than George W. Bush
Well, both acted with impunity.. that’s where the similarities end, though.
They prob get a load of their info from President of the Korean Friendship Association, Alejandro Cao de Benos .. a Spaniard and total hack for the NK regime .. check out a documentary (I’m sure it’s on YouTube) called Friends of Kim .. you’ll see just how crazy he is
I was in North Korea at the end of November (must have been the last Paddy there before the Dear Leader crocked it!) and agree with Stephen above, most of the North Korean’s I spoke with hadn’t the first clue where Ireland was, never mind keeping a close eye on our current affairs.
Curiously we also did a tour to the museum that houses all the gifts from various nations to Kim Jong Il and there was some very fine Connemara marble on show courtesy of the Irish Workers Party’s trip there a few years back…nothing from Michael D yet, must be still in the post.
The DPRK was an interesting trip, would highly recommend it.
Yet again article of the week goes to Gav Reilly. Love reading his articles, he’s my favorite member of staff in the Journal.
I have heard the Koreans described as the Irish of the Orient – they’ve been under the yoke of a larger and more aggressive neighbour, plus they used to go abroad to work on building sites. While the north of both countries may be ruled by lunatics, it’s a lot easier to cross the border from Newry than Kaesong, and you won’t get thrown in prison for tuning into RTE.
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