Courts / Dublin / Report

High Court makes rulings in favour of CAB

Date
2018-01-23

Stage
Hearing Or Decision

Primary locality
Dublin

County
Dublin

Summary

In a 23 January 2018 High Court decision, Justice Carmel Stewart ruled that €875,000 held in Irish bank accounts belonging to Mr Adam Shina Muhammed, a man in his early forties, were proceeds of crime. The accounts, controlled by Mr Muhammed and located at several Irish financial institutions, had been frozen after a Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) application. Mr Muhammed had not formally opposed the application and had previously denied involvement in money laundering, claiming the funds were business loans for his company Eirclean. No evidence supported this claim; CAB presented evidence of large sums deposited between May 2014 and November 2015 from Hong Kong, China, the USA and Nigeria, totaling about €1.5 million, with €875,000 remaining after some dissipation. CAB found no records of Eirclean's trading activity, premises, employees or tax returns. Justice Stewart therefore ordered the accounts under Section 3 of the 1996 Proceeds of Crime Act and appointed a receiver over the monies.