Although the details remain sketchy, it is clear that the Garda and the RUC deserve great commendation for their investigation into a major money-laundering operation on the Border. A series of arrests yesterday was the culmination of a painstaking, three-year operation in which a team of detectives from the Garda National Detective Unit and officers from both the Criminal Assets Bureau and the RUC's Financial Investigation Unit traced the alleged links between bureau de change operations on the Border and extensive criminal activities in Dublin and Belfast. From what is known, it appears that the proceeds of drug-trafficking and other crime were being laundered on the Border and used to fund other foreign criminal escapades.
Garda officers have described the investigation as the most extensive ever launched under this State's anti money-laundering legislation. By some estimates, up to £100 million was allegedly laundered through the Border operation over the past three years. It appears that several criminal figures, who also enjoyed what might have been called a footloose arrangement with various paramilitary groups, operated what was effectively an unlicenced bank from bureau de change operations on the Border. Aside from allegedly laundering the proceeds of crime, they also apparently operated various cross-Border VAT frauds and contraband operations.
The 1994 Criminal Justice Act - the legislation enacted in this State as a part of an EU-wide campaign to combat money laundering across the Union - has proved a useful weapon in the State's armoury. So too has the establishment of the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) and the National Bureau of Fraud Investigation (NBFI). When the Tampere EU summit moved last weekend to intensify the battle against money-laundering, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, was able to point to the success of the CAB as a possible role model for other states.
More than any other single initiative, perhaps, the establishment of the CAB has helped to break up the major criminal gangs which were able for so long to cock a snook at the authorities. The establishment of the NBFI has also had a dramatic impact; for years its predecessor, the Garda Fraud Squad, was given neither the resources nor the priority it required. The NBFI, by comparison, has enjoyed strong support from the Garda authorities and includes a dedicated unit to combat money-laundering.
In truth, the new drive against money-laundering, fraud and white-collar crime is overdue. As the recent welter of financial scandals has shown, those who broke the law in respect of their tax liabilities and even those who operated the secretive Ansbacher accounts were rarely troubled by the Garda. It has also been the case that some banks and building societies - who are required to report any suspicious transactions - took what might called a minimalist view of their obligations under the Criminal Justice Act. For all that, both the Garda and the RUC are entitled to be pleased with yesterday's joint operation. Indeed, the investigation demonstrates how two police forces operating within different legal jurisdictions - and backed up with the necessary body of law - can combine to work effectively.