The Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) has secured a court order freezing part of the estate of a deceased gangland criminal. The money was part of the proceeds of a construction industry fraud where organised crime figures defrauded Revenue of up to €1 million.
The High Court yesterday granted the bureau an order freezing €107,800 of the estate of Anthony Spratt (31) Ratoath Drive, Finglas, Dublin. Spratt was a member of a Finglas crime gang and was a known armed robber and drug dealer.
He hanged himself while serving sentence a prison in Mountjoy in March 2005.
Before he was imprisoned he had been involved in the fraud which targeted Revenue. He established a small sub-contracting company which he claimed carried out carpentry work for major contractors. Under normal circumstances a major contractor would stop tax at source when paying a subcontractor for work done.
The tax would be paid to Revenue and the sub contractor would need to apply to Revenue for the return of some or all of that money.
