THE STATE received €2.7 million in cash recovered from the proceeds of organised crime in 2011, following recovery procedures by the Criminal Assets Bureau.

The bureau’s annual report for that year, published yesterday, reveals that the bureau obtained court orders dealing with the freezing or seizure of criminal assets worth over €22 million in 2011.

That amount – which includes over £750,000 sterling, and nearly $700,000 in US dollars – includes permission to sell or transfer almost €3.5 million in criminal property.

The €22 million figure includes cases where the same cash was subject to several different court orders, including interim orders to freeze it followed by subsequent orders to transfer or dispose of it.

In addition to the €2.73 million transferred to the Exchequer, the CAB also secured a court order to transfer €2.7 million to a liquidator, so that it could distribute the cash to the victims of a fraud.

Another £300,000 sterling was forwarded to the British courts system to satisfy a criminal confiscation debt.

The report says that in five cases, involving 12 respondents, people who were alleged to have raised money through criminal action had gone to court to prove the legality of their funds. Those cases involved proceeds worth €2.84 million.

Justice minister Alan Shatter said the report highlighted “targeting the proceeds of criminal conduct”, and said the government was keen to give the CAB further powers “through forthcoming legislative proposals”.

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