A high Court judge ruled yesterday that the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 applies not only to offences committed in this State, but also to crime perpetrated outside the jurisdiction.
Mr Justice O'Higgins, in a reserved judgment on a case in which the Criminal Assets Bureau sought to seize £55,000 in a Cobh (Co Cork) bank, said it had been submitted the Act did not apply to the proceeds of crime committed outside the Republic, but in his view the Act did apply, even if that crime was committed outside the State and notwithstanding the failure of the legislation to explicitly say so.
It would be strange if the legislature was deemed to have intended that persons who committed criminal offences in another jurisdiction were free to obtain money from that crime and retain it in Ireland, while those engaging in the same conduct here would be liable to have the assets forfeited.
The judge said the lodging of monies in bank accounts in Cobh appeared to be the proceeds of money-laundering in this jurisdiction, in so far as the monies were obtained in connection with the commission of the offence.
In the circumstances, he granted the CAB an order to seize the monies in the Cobh accounts.