The High Court has ordered that a Criminal Assets Bureau receiver take control of a west Dublin property "effectively owned" by international crime cartel boss Daniel Kinahan.
The house, located near Tallaght, is the first property that has been seized from Daniel Kinahan after it was found to be the proceeds of crime, namely drug-trafficking.
On Tuesday morning, Mr Justice Michael MacGrath said he was satisfied to grant an application made by Shelley Horan BL on behalf of CAB that their legal officer be appointed receiver to sell the property "on the open market" and control €3,850 found there.
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Ms Horan said her application was made under Section 7 of the Criminal Assets Bureau Act for the bureau's legal officer, Mr Kevin McMeel, to be appointed receiver. She said CAB planned to sell the house and lodge the proceeds to a nominated bank account. The barrister said the next step would be the forfeiture of any proceeds from the sale to the exchequer which could be done in seven years' time.
Ms Horan said the property was a "substantial five-bed" house at Coldwater Lakes in Saggart, valued at €750-800K in 2013. She said that when gardaí called to the house on May 23, 2019, a "close associate of Daniel Kinahan", Anthony Fitzpatrick, a former MTK boxing manager, was living there with his family.
In a follow-up query to Mr Fitzpatrick on October 25, 2022, he told gardaí he had moved out of the house five months previously, that he no longer had the key to the house but did have a fob for various gates to get access to the premises.
Ms Horan said that on the same date, October 25, 2022, CAB drove to the property and found it uninhabited. None of the respondents in the matter have claimed ownership or interest in the property. She said gardaí believed that there was no valid insurance on the property in place, should there be any damage to the property. Counsel added they had no means of validating whether there was one in place.
Ms Horan applied on behalf of the State to have the property sold on the "open market" and requested a stay be put on the receivership order until November 24, 2022, at 10am, so that logistical preparations could be made.
Ms Horan said the application was in the interests of all parties so that the asset could be protected.
Mr Justice MacGrath granted the application to allow Mr McMeel to take control of the house and cash. Ms Horan said the next step, according to the Act, was for proceeds from the sale to be held in a nominated bank account controlled by the receiver and forfeited to the State in time.
Last month, the court heard that Detective Chief Superintendent Seamus Boland, of the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, outlined in an affidavit that Daniel Kinahan (45) is an individual who "sanctioned a number of murders" as part of the Hutch/Kinahan feud.
At that hearing, Mr Justice MacGrath ruled that the property "is likely to be worth a lot more now" and deemed it to be the proceeds of crime. The house, located near Tallaght, is the first property that has been seized from Daniel Kinahan after it was found to be the proceeds of crime, namely drug-trafficking.
Ms Horan had said it was "noteworthy" that no one had come forward to claim ownership for such a "valuable property", which she said was "very telling". "This is an attempted repayment of funds to the Kinahan Organised Crime Group that wasn't properly effected," she added.
CAB's view, Ms Horan said, was that it was "highly improbable" that Daniel Kinahan would contest these proceedings "because that would involve him acknowledging an involvement in a property he has hitherto sought to conceal".
The High Court heard in July that CAB officers had written to the 45-year-old cartel leader at two separate business and residential addresses that are believed to be linked to him in Dubai but he had not responded.
Ms Horan had informed the court that service was already effected on Kinahan and asked the court to deem the service on Kinahan "good" despite the cartel boss "not communicating directly" with the bureau. In an affidavit, Detective Garda Declan Fitzgerald said that is "implausible" that he is unaware of the existence of the hearing.
The High Court previously heard it is alleged that Kinahan and criminal Thomas "Bomber" Kavanagh gave the now jailed businessman Jim Mansfield Junior (54) two suitcases containing €4.5 million, which was to be invested in property for the cartel. That deal collapsed when Mansfield's finances suffered during the economic downturn but it is alleged that Mansfield Jnr later reached a deal with the cartel to repay them by giving them a house at Coldwater Lakes in Saggart. At a previous hearing in April, CAB said that Kinahan has "effectively owned" the property since 2014.
Det Supt Boland said in his affidavit that Kinahan is suspected to be in a leadership role in the Kinahan Organised Crime Group. He also said that Kinahan played an "integral part" in importing controlled drugs and weapons to Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe, as well as money laundering.
He said that Daniel Kinahan became a "household name" after the shooting at the Regency hotel in February 2016, where David Byrne was shot dead.
The Det Supt also said that Daniel Kinahan is an individual who "sanctioned a number of murders" as part of the Hutch/Kinahan feud.
The senior detective also outlined in an affidavit the evidence gathered to show that Daniel Kinahan lived in the property. The property was searched by gardai on January 29, 2015 and evidence was discovered that the house had been lived in by Kinahan. Former international boxer Matthew Macklin was in the house at the time of the search and paraphernalia connected to management company MGM was found. The court heard that Mr Macklin was courteous but declined to answer any questions.
CAB believes that Kinahan lived in the house as a passport in his name and also an Aer Lingus baggage sticker in his name were located during a search. A Ryanair boarding pass in the name of Christopher Kinahan, Daniel's younger brother, was found on an iPad in the house. Documentation belonging to James Quinn, who has 70 recorded convictions in Ireland and who is serving a 22 year sentence in Spain for the murder of Gary Hutch, was also found.
Ms Horan said that during the search on January 29, 2015, €3,850 in cash was also located in a hidden compartment behind a safe in the back bedroom, where documents belonging to Kinahan were also found. The court heard it is likely that the cash also belongs to Kinahan.
The court heard that the property and cash were both in the control and possession of Daniel Kinahan "but namely Mr Kinahan" and that Kavanagh was acting as his agent.
Regarding service, Ms Horan said that letters sent to Kinahan by Detective Garda Declan Fitzgerald were returned to the bureau and then served on him again in September by registered post. She said the detective was satisfied that Kinahan had access to these addresses and that a third address relating to a passport application was also used. Gardai also called two phone numbers that Kinahan put on a recent passport application but got no response. They also sent an email to an email address belonging to him.
Mr Justice MacGrath said he was satisfied that Kinahan could not but be aware about the proceedings before the High Court and that all reasonable efforts had been made by the bureau to serve him.
Referring to Kavanagh, who is currently serving a 21-year custodial sentence in the UK for conspiring to import class A and B drugs, Ms Horan said that he had been visited three times in prison to see if he wished to make an appearance and engage a solicitor but that each time he replied "no comment". Ms Horan submitted that Kavanagh, who is believed to be an international drug trafficker and close associate of Kinahan, has been duly served, was fully aware of proceedings and did not appear to contest the case.
The court heard that the criminal organisation took hold of the property in 2014, whereby €4.5 million in cash was given to Mansfield Jnr to be invested in property. When the investment "turned sour" and Mansfield Jnr "couldn't make good" on the deal, assets were transferred to the Kinahan Organised Crime Group to repay these funds.
Ms Horan outlined that Martin Byrne, who is now in the Witness Protection Programme and who was recruited to head up security of the Mansfield family, was interviewed by gardai in 2018.
Mr Byrne said the Kavanaghs were looking for a return on their monies. He also said that a party was held in in a bar at the back of a hotel on Good Friday in 2009 where four persons including convicted murdered Freddie Thompson and Kavanagh arrived. Jim Mansfield Jnr gave instructions they were to be given "VIP treatment" for the night, the court heard. Two large suitcases with the cash were handed over by the four men the following day.
Mr Byrne told CAB that Mansfield Jnr said: "Even though I was partying [last night], I was still making money."
Mr Byrne said that threatening and abusive calls were later made and there was a lot of pressure on Jim Mansfield Jnr to pay the debt. He said the house at Coldwater Lakes "was offered as part payment for the cash paid". Mr Byrne said Kavanagh was handed over the keys to the house in April or May 2014 and that Jim Mansfield Jnr had nothing to do with the house after this. "I believe the Kinahans particularly Daniel owns Coldwater Lakes as he stayed at the property and got the house arising out of the suitcases," said Mr Byrne.
The High Court also heard that a close friend and best man for Kinahan, who is now living in the house at Coldwater Lakes but had never paid rent, was contacted in March of this year and informed that the bureau needed to speak to Kinahan regarding the High Court application. This man indicated to the bureau that he did not want to be involved but said that he had "reached out" to Kinahan and would do so again but could not confirm if Kinahan would contact gardai.
CAB has been trying to serve papers on Kinahan since last April and the bureau must serve papers on the various respondents in the case before it can seize the property.
In his ruling, Mr Justice MacGrath said this was an application under Section 3 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 in respect of two assets. He said CAB had conducted a "thorough investigation" of the matter and that he had considered all 28 of the "copious amounts" of affidavits.
The judge said he was satisfied that Daniel Kinahan and Thomas Kavanagh are the persons in control of the property and the €3,850 seized, that "directly or indirectly constitute the proceeds of crime".
The judge said he was satisfied that the two respondents had been duly served, are aware of the proceedings and that they had not attended court nor appointed representatives on their behalf. "In those circumstances there is no contravening evidence to the court," he added.
Last July, the High Court heard that Daniel Kinahan had until October 13 to decide whether he wanted to challenge the CAB in its attempt to dispose of the south Dublin property linked to the cartel boss and to Jim Mansfield Jnr.
At that hearing, Ms Horan told the High Court that attempts had been made to serve papers at business and residential addresses linked to Kinahan in Dubai. Ms Horan said the bureau did not yet have confirmation that Kinahan had received the papers concerning the property at Coldwater Lakes in Saggart, near Tallaght but that they did "not anticipate a reaction" from Kinahan.
Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh, she said, had already been served papers while in prison in the UK.
Jim Mansfield Jnr and his brother Patrick Joseph Mansfield have already consented to an order waiving any claim over the property.
The bureau has been trying to serve papers on Kinahan for several months and in June said they had discovered addresses for him in Dubai that were published in a US Treasury press release.
Mansfield
Last February the Special Criminal Court jailed Jim Mansfield Jnr in an unrelated case for 18 months. The one-time property magnate had ordered the destruction of CCTV footage showing him with a former employee on the morning the employee was kidnapped by republican terrorists Dessie O'Hare and Declan 'Whacker' Duffy.
The court noted that Mansfield Jnr "stood and watched" as his former security guard Martin Byrne was taken by the notorious criminals and "placed in great danger".
Sentencing Mansfield Jnr, presiding judge Mr Justice Alexander Owens said that the defendant had decided to suppress the potential evidence of his involvement with "notorious kidnapper" O'Hare and Duffy and that his actions fell into the category of "foolish and selfish criminality, whose efforts did not succeed".
The three-judge court found that when the convicted man ordered the CCTV footage to be destroyed, he knew there would be a major criminal investigation including an examination of his role in these events. "He did it to distance himself from any involvement with Declan Duffy and Dessie O'Hare and to hide his association with gangsters," added Mr Justice Owens.
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