The High Court has frozen more than €153,000 in a Tralee bank account along with 84 vehicles and a trailer after finding that the assets were linked to the proceeds of major mandate frauds.
The assets were connected with Autology Limited, trading as Autopace from Unit 1, Ballywilliam, Carrigatogher, Nenagh, County Tipperary, and Agne Khan, its sole shareholder.
Mr Justice Alexander Owens granted an order under section 3 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 preventing the respondents, or anyone with notice of the order, from disposing of or otherwise dealing with the property.
The Criminal Assets Bureau argued that Autology’s motor-trading business was funded using money stolen through mandate frauds in Britain and that vehicles bought with those funds were sold through businesses controlled by members of the Khan family.
The court accepted that case. It found cogent evidence that substantial criminal proceeds had been channelled through businesses in England and Ireland to buy second-hand cars, including vehicles purchased through British Car Auctions.
The judgment traced links between Autology and other Khan-controlled businesses, including SJK, Prestige Motorhouse Limited and Clay Motors Limited. It also found that Agne Khan and Khurram Khan were at the centre of the fraudulent activity, while Jawad Khan worked in motor businesses used to launder the proceeds.
The court recorded that linked frauds investigated under “Operation Brasenose” involved more than £1.3 million, while a separate NHS-related fraud investigated under “Operation Kangchenjunga” involved a loss of more than £900,000. Further frauds brought the court’s estimate of enrichment of the Khan group to more than £3.5 million.
The ruling does not amount to a criminal conviction in these proceedings. It is a civil proceeds-of-crime order based on the court’s findings about the origin and control of the assets.