The High Court has dismissed an application by Raja Naseeb to prohibit his prosecution on three money-laundering charges, ruling that missing internet protocol (IP) records did not create a risk that he would be denied a fair trial. The judge said the trial judge could address any potential risk of injustice with an appropriate warning to the jury. He reserved costs for further submissions.
Naseeb’s application concerned IP addresses and related records for online transfers from three bank accounts held in his name. His case was that Gardaí had failed to obtain or preserve records that could help identify where transfers were made and support his defence. The application no longer included the Permanent TSB account after the prosecution disclosed IP information for that account; the dispute continued over records for the KBC and An Post accounts.
The prosecution alleges that, between 13 and 22 November 2017, money credited to Naseeb’s accounts was criminal proceeds and that he dealt with it, knowing or being reckless as to that fact. The charges arise from a payment redirection fraud involving a construction company working at Ardee Community School. The judgment says €247,896.54 was transferred by the Louth Meath Education and Training Board to an Ulster Bank account after someone falsely claiming to represent the company requested a change of bank details. The funds were then moved through other accounts, including accounts held by Naseeb.
The prosecution opposed stopping the trial. It argued that the missing IP records were not essential to its case, which it said also included account-opening material, documents bearing Naseeb’s details, items found in his bedroom, and CCTV of withdrawals. Those are prosecution claims described in the judgment, not findings made in the judicial review.
Mr Justice Nolan accepted that Gardaí have a duty to seek and preserve evidence relevant to an accused’s guilt or innocence. But he concluded that the unavailable IP records were not so significant as to threaten a fair trial. He noted that the disclosed PTSB addresses pointed to locations in the United States and the Netherlands, and said how that information assisted Naseeb was unclear. He also observed that VPNs and other tools can obscure an IP address and that the missing records could provide the defence with an argument that another person accessed the accounts.
The court did not decide whether Naseeb was guilty of the charges. It dismissed the application to prohibit the prosecution; the criminal trial remained to proceed.