The Kinahan cartel’s No. 1 man in Ireland is to be stripped of nearly €1.5m worth of assets linked to him - including properties, vehicles and luxury jewellery - after a five year battle.
The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) brought a case against Ross Browning - described as “close and trusted lieutenant of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group” - to permanently seize almost €1.7m of his assets.
Members of Browning’s family - his mother Julie Conway, his sisters Cheryl and Robyn and his late grandfather William Conway - are also named in the CAB proceedings.
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However, a judge ruled that some of the money from the sale of the assets is to be given to those named family members as they have lost out because they facilitated Browning’s activities relating to the properties.
The assets include a cottage and land in Garristown and lands in Rush, both in north county Dublin, a house in Finglas, several motors, luxury watches and jewellery.
Mr Justice Alexander Owens ruled that the convicted criminal’s assets were the proceeds of crime - despite Browning’s attempt to disguise the origin of money through family members named in the CAB proceedings.
Mr Justice Owens found in his judgment delivered in the High Court that the Chestnut Lodge property in Garristown was purchased and renovated “with money supplied by Ross Browning which represented proceeds of crime.”
Chestnut Lodge - which was searched by the CAB in 2018 - featured an ‘escape hatch’ concealed with a hanging carpet leading from the house to the shed behind it. A motorbike was at the foot of the escape hatch which a senior detective said in an affidavit “was clearly there for Browning’s use.”
That property, on 1.2 acres of land, was extensively renovated while outbuildings, sheds, an equestrian centre were built on the land by Browning along with a new house where he and his family lived. The property underwent €330k renovation and building works, the court heard.
Julie Conway, Ross’s mother, told investigators that the renovations were “all me and Dave” including €40,000 borrowed from St Raphaels Garda Credit Union.
Two further parcels of land in Rush were also identified as purchased with proceeds of crime - one purchased in the name Julie Conway in 2011 and a property at Cross Lane in Rush.
It’s the Bureau’s evidence Browning purchased the property at Cross Lane in Rush with a cheque from his then 8-year-old son’s account. The CAB claimed Browning is behind both properties.
The CAB also claim a number of items seized from the named family members including a Rolex watch worth €9k; a Breitling watch worth €4k, a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona watch worth €25k, a solitaire platinum ring worth €11,300 and a Chronograph watch worth €2,200 are the proceeds of crime.
Browning - who has been described by the CAB as being “at the heart of the €1 billion transnational Kinahan Organised Crime Group involved in the trade of drugs, weapons and murders” - did not contest the CAB’s case. He also did not appear in court for the judgment on Wednesday.
Julie Conway and her partner ex-garda David O’Brien - who lived in Chestnut Lodge - and her daughters Cheryl and Robyn rejected the Bureau’s claims in respect of some of the assets.
The CAB’s evidence of Browning’s key role with the Kinahan cartel was outlined during a hearing last October which the High Court accepted.
The Bureau said the 37-year-old is a ‘close and trusted associate of Daniel Kinahan; is involved in activities necessary to generate large amounts of money and in his role “operates on a hands off basis” to distance himself from potential detection.
Browning, who previously worked as a bricklayer and gym owner, first came to the attention of the CAB in 2010 in an operation targeting the Kinahans here and in Spain, the court heard.
In 2016, Browning, who is from Dublin’s north inner city, then became a target of the Special Crime Task Force.
The CAB claims Browning and his partner took a number of flights to Dubai - where Daniel Kinahan, his father Christy and brother Christopher have been based for a number of years - as well as flights to Perth, Lisbon, Phuket, Lisbon and Malaga.
The judgment said Browning has associations with other senior members of the Kinahan Organised Crime Gang and of the Byrne gang - led by Liam Byrne.
The judgment also said Browning and his partner Sinead Mulhall attended the wedding of Daniel Kinahan in Dubai 2017.
After declaring the properties and assets the proceeds of crime, Mr Justice Owens granted the CAB a Section 3 order which allows them to seize and sell them and give the money to the Exchequer.
The judge ruled that Chestnut Cottage can be sold but the CAB must give a quarter of the value to Browning’s mother Julie and her partner David O’Brien, another €103k to an individual and almost €60,000 to Browning’s late grandfather William Conway’s estate.
The judgment stated this was to ensure “that there is no disproportionate enrichment of the State at the expense of some relations of Ross Browning who have lost out or will lose out because they facilitated Browning’s activities relating to these properties.
“These relatives have involved themselves in highly culpable activities,” the judgement continued, “They either facilitated money laundering or took benefits funded by organised crime of the most serious sort.”
The judge has allowed counsel for Browning and the others affected “time to consider the judgement” and will make the Section 3 orders next month.
CAB searches in 2018 found:
-€2,750 cash found during a search of a flat in Dublin 1
-A number of valuable watches
-A diamond solitaire ring
-A black VW Golf 142D
-€6,400 found during a search of a flat in Dublin 1
-€2,800 cash found during a search of Chestnut Lodge cottage in Garristown
-A black Honda Blackbird CBR motorcycle 07LS registered to Stephen Fowler, found in the shed in Garristown
-A Blue Audi Q7 SUV 10D, registered to Sinead Mulhall, seized from outside Chestnut Lodge in Garristown
-A black Mercedes-Benz Vito van GGZ, registered to Ross Browning, seized from outside Chestnut Lodge in Garristown
-€4,900 cash seized and a white VW Golf 12D from a house at Navan Road in Dublin.
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