Various assets linked to the alleged leader of an Irish-based Chinese crime gang are likely derived from crime proceeds, the High Court has ruled.
Mr Justice Alexander Owens proposed to make various orders sought by the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) in respect of assets linked to Peng Fei He and two other Chinese nationals alleged to be part of a Dublin-centred group that has allegedly laundered millions in drug trafficking proceeds on behalf of Irish criminals.
Cash of some €21,000 and an Audi A4 vehicle found at Mr Peng’s address at Annagh Court, Blanchardstown, Dublin, during a June 2020 search were, on the balance of probabilities, derived directly or indirectly from proceeds of crime, the judge held on Friday.
The bureau claims Mr Peng is the “mastermind” behind the organised group of 13 individuals that has laundered millions of euro for Irish-based drug gangs, including one allegedly led by Ciaran O’Sullivan, who, the bureau claims, has historical links to Christy Kinahan snr.
Mr Peng, who was jailed here in 2016 for six years for drug offences, was pictured with O’Sullivan, who, the Cab says, resides at an address at Adelaide Road, Glenageary, Co Dublin, when he is in Ireland.
Mr Justice Owens said Mr Peng (40) was “not out of jail a wet month and all of this is happening around himself and his girlfriend”.
The judge last month made an order concerning assets linked to four other alleged members of the gang. He concluded the bureau made out a case that a money-laundering operation involved people who immigrated to Ireland years ago from China.
On Friday, on the application of the bureau, through its barrister Shelley Horan, the judge deemed various assets linked to Mr Peng and two others as likely proceeds of crime.
None of the three were in court, but evidence was given that each had been served with the proceedings.
The judge was satisfied he could make the orders sought by the bureau, including receivership orders for the cash amounts and the power to sell the vehicle.
The same orders apply to some €15,000 held in a bank account of Yun Yu (44), Mr Peng’s girlfriend, who also lived at Annagh Court, and €6,000 cash found in a rucksack during a search of 27-year-old Tan Lijia’s address on Crumlin Road, Dublin.
Ms Horan previously told the court gardaí seized hundreds of thousands of euros in cash during searches at various locations in June 2020 following a surveillance operation. There was also evidence of vast sums passing through various bank accounts linked to members of the Chinese group, she said.
It was the bureau’s case that the individuals purchased high-value goods in Brown Thomas and other Irish stores to export them as a way of laundering money derived from crime.
